


Born Of Blood

by Rogue21



Category: Assassin's Creed, Bloodborne (Video Game)
Genre: Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Bloodborne - Freeform, Central Yharnam, Crossover, Dark Fantasy, F/M, M/M, Romance, The Cleric Beast, The Rooks (Assassin's Creed: Syndicate), Yharnam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2016-02-09
Packaged: 2018-04-29 11:15:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 50,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5125457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogue21/pseuds/Rogue21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ahh, you've found yourself a Hunter"</p>
<p>While Evie searches for the Piece of Eden hidden in London, the Templars are on the trail of another piece that's located in a place called Yharnam. No one knows what or where Yharnam is only that Starrick and Lady Thorne are looking for the entrance that's hidden underneath London.<br/>Alexander finds the entrance to the realm of Yharnam after he's chased by two of Starrick's men who were following him. That's when he finds himself in Iosefka's Clinic and becomes The Hunter.<br/>Now he needs the twins to go to Yharnam with him and find the Piece of Eden and survive the Night of the Hunt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rumours In The Dark

“I’m telling you it was this big,” Jacob said to Evie as they walked up to Alexander Graham Bell’s laboratory.

“I don’t believe it, they can’t grow that big,” Evie replied opening the door.

“Well let’s ask Aleck, he’s the science man around here,” Jacob suggested as they spotted Alex, placing a target on the wall of his lab.

“Aleck is not going to believe you Jacob,” Evie said as the young Scotsman turned to see them, she couldn’t help but notice the large cut on his left cheek and worried some Blighters had been by.

“What am I not going to believe?” Alex asked curiously. It wasn’t often he got caught in the middle of their debates.

“Jacob claims he saw a giant rat,” Evie explained.

“I know what I saw sister,” Jacob retorted, Evie never seemed to believe the stranger parts of his stories like giant rats and gang leaders bursting into flames from nowhere. Alex, puzzled by the topic being rats of all things, looked at Jacob who then showed with his hands how big the rat he saw was. “It was this big, and had this really evil look in its eye, like it was going to eat me.”

“Jacob, I don’t know why you’re bringing this to me, you’re better off taking this story to Mr. Darwin on the matter, he’s the one who wrote The Origin of Species,” Alex said. Giant rats in London seemed rather strange, much like the rumours of the dead wandering the streets that was going around Lambeth.

“Rats aside, what are you doing Aleck?” Evie asked wanting to get away from the subject of rats, they weren’t her favourite creatures in the world. Alex smiled at her enthusiasm and rolled up his sleeve.

“A built in crossbow that also reloads after firing, this is only a prototype of course but every time I fire a bolt, the spring traps seems to break and when I tried to observe it, it accidentally went off,” he told them and pointed to the cut. That put Evie’s mind to rest slightly. “But I also have some news regarding our good friend Starrick, as you know there is a Piece of Eden in London somewhere that both you and the Templars are trying to locate.”

“That’s correct, but lately the clues have started to fall short,” Evie confirmed.

“Well apparently the person that contacted me said that there is another piece, it’s not in London, but it’s near London or something, it was hard to decipher, but the Templars are looking for this other piece as well, what’s strange about the message was they asked me to see them to get more information about this,” Alex said to them.

“Why ask for you alone, you’re not an Assassin,” Jacob said.

“I am aware that I am not part of your guild,” Alex replied.

“Look if they asked for Aleck, then he should go, we can go back to the Kenway house and look through that vault Henry and I found, there won’t be many Templars around to stop us,” Evie said to her brother. She trusted Alex on this venture, and he could take care of himself.

“I just think it’s a bad idea, it could be trap,” Jacob warned Evie.

“Says the man who dives headfirst into a stronghold before scoping out the place and ends up getting his ass handed to him by a huge guy named Leslie,” Evie retorted. Jacob glared at her for bringing up the Leslie incident and decided to embarrass her as well.

“Just don’t get yourself killed eh Aleck, you’ll break Evie’s heart,” Jacob told Alex. Evie blushed at her brother’s comment and grabbed his arm.

“I’ll break you in a minute if you keep talking,” she threatened him, Jacob laughed at her empty threat and pulled his arm free.

“We’ll let you know how it goes in Kenway’s house,” Jacob told Alex as he left the lab leaving the two of them.

“Have you two always been this way?” Alex asked Evie.

“We’re twins,” was all Evie said and followed after her brother. Alex laughed to himself and turned to the target on the wall. He aimed the crossbow and fired, the bolt hit the centre of the target, he checked the bow and saw it safely reload and not break like the last time. And with the crossbow prototype fixed, Alex went to the table and picked up the telegram about the second Piece of Eden and read over it. The telegram mentioned a place called Yharnam and that the piece would be found there, he found it odd that the telegram asked for him alone and not for anyone from the guild or even Evie or Jacob. On the one hand it could be trap like Jacob suggested, but on the other it could be that this Piece of Eden is real and located in this Yharnam, he would have to go to find out.

When night fell, Lambeth was eerily quiet, no Blighters were about, everyone was in their homes and the moon was bright and full. Alex left his lab, armed with the handmade crossbow, a Voltaic Bomb, and the hallucinogenic darts and headed for Southwark. London at night was normally a beautiful thing for Alex, but tonight felt different, the clouds had blocked out the stars, the rain had left the ground wet, the streets were abnormally empty, and the air just felt wrong to him. It reminded him of the stories of Burke and Hare, the two Irish men who committed a series of murders in 1828 in Edinburgh, he half expected them to jump out from an alley and gut him he knew the stories that well.

When he reached Southwark, he noticed to men had started to follow him, the streetlights showed the Templar bands on their arms, meaning they must have known he was coming to Southwark. He quickened his pace and the men did too, he saw the alley that led to the sewers where this person wanted to meet and he had one choice. He immediately began to run.

“Get him,” one of the men shouted as they ran after him. Alex ran into the sewers, he had no idea where this person would be down there, he got out the Voltaic Bomb in case the men caught up with him.

“Where are you?” he asked himself as he ran down random passages trying to guess which didn’t have a grate blocking the path. The Templars however were gaining on him, he then came to the end of a tunnel which led into a large area further down into the sewer. He turned to see the two Templars behind him who were standing at the end of the tunnel.

“Nowhere to run now,” one of the men said to him. Alex readied the Voltaic Bomb and stood on the edge of the tunnel.

“The only way is down,” he said throwing the bomb towards the Templars and jumping backwards. The bomb exploded and Alex fell down into the open area of the sewer, hit the hard ground and fell unconscious.

When he began to regain consciousness he found himself being dragged by an unknown figure through the sewers, he tried to speak but couldn’t and felt weak from the fall. He wondered if it was the person he saw supposed to be meeting, they were tall, wearing black ragged clothing, everything began to blur and sound began to fade and he fell unconscious again as the stranger dragged him away.


	2. Iosefka’s Clinic

Alex regained consciousness again a while later and found himself lying on a gurney in a room filled with medical instruments and cabinets with red vials stored in them.

“Evie,” he mumbled as he tried to sit up, but found himself restrained. But he wasn’t alone, there was a man in a wheelchair holding a parchment and reading it.

“Oh yes, Pale Blood, well you’ve come to the right place, Yharnam is the home of Blood Ministration, you need only unravel its mystery,” the man said.

“Evie,” Alex mumbled again, wondering if this was a strange dream and he was still in his lab or on the floor of the sewer.

“But where’s an outsider like yourself to begin,” the man said ignoring his calls for Evie, he rolled towards Alex who was paralysed with fear. “Easy, with a bit of Yharnam blood of your own, but first you need a contract,” the man held up the contract for Alex to see. He was unsure of what to do, but if the contract would keep him alive, he had no choice but to sign it. The old man released his right arm and passed him a pen, Alex took it and signed his name at the bottom of the contract.

“Good, all signed and sealed, now let’s begin the transfusion, oh don’t you worry, whatever happens, you may think it all a bad dream,” the old man said. Suddenly he started to laugh and Alex turned to see a large pool of blood on the floor, a large wolf-like beast emerged from the blood and snarled at him and began to crawl towards him, it reached out to him, but then suddenly caught fire and shrieked at the flames and disappeared. Then tiny corpse-like creatures began to crawl over him and Alex fell unconscious again as a new voice said:

“Ah, you’ve found yourself a hunter.”

When Alex woke up again, the clinic was empty and he got up off the gurney. Was this Yharnam like the old man had said? He still didn’t know what was going on or how he could get back to London, was he trapped? Would he ever see Evie again, oh sweet Evie, dedicated to her cause to find the Piece of Eden. He left the room he woke up in and saw the tiny little corpses appear from the floor holding a parchment, he picked it up and opened it to read:

_You’ll need to come to Hunters Dream to collect your weapons, don’t worry there will be a lantern from which to travel before you meet that Scourge Beast._

The thought of the Scourge Beast sent a shiver down his spine and he entered another room to see the lantern that the parchment talked about. He knelt down at the lantern and the little corpses appeared again and he was transported to the Hunters Dream.

The Hunters Dream wasn’t what he expected it to be, it was like a small graveyard with a workshop. He walked up the stony paths as the tiny corpses marvelled at him and saw the doors were open. He walked into see the old man again from the clinic.

“Ah you made it to the Hunter’s Dream safely, but what did you say your name was again?” he asked.

  
“I didn’t, it’s Alexander, who are you, where am I?” Alex replied confused at where he was.

“Alexander, I am Gehrman, I was one of the first hunters and you are now a hunter, the man that brought you here was a Huntsman from Central Yharnam who works for me, you know why you are here yes?” Gehrman said.

“The Piece of Eden,” Alexander replied remembering the message.

  
“Yes, the Piece of Eden, used by the Great Ones, yes a Piece of Eden is how Yharnam was born, it was used to create the Hunt, used for control, which is why everyone worships the Healing Cathedral, but you’re not ready for the journey to the Cathedral, no you’re new to being a Hunter, they would kill you,” Gehrman said. It still didn’t explain how Alex got to Yharnam or how he would get back to London.

“How do I go back to London, if you brought me here, there must be a way back,” Alex asked. Gehrman laughed and then took from his pocket a small electronic looking device that resembled a wrist cuff.

  
“This will be your doorway between our worlds, just press the black button to come to Yharnam and the white button to return to London, keep it with you but should something happen there is another doorway to Yharnam, in the sewer you went to there is a door, it connects the worlds, but few know of its existence. But enough of that, you’ll need weapons and new clothes, you can’t be a hunter looking like that,” Gehrman said. Alex was slightly offended by that statement until more of the tiny corpses appeared. “These are messengers they will aid you in your travels,” Gehrman informed Alex. He looked down at three groups, one was holding a large axe, one a gun, and the other clothes. He took the clothes and changed into them, the clothing was all black, but comfortable and, in his opinion, made him look quite dashing. One thing that completed the look was the Hunters hat and scarf that covered his face. He wondered if Evie would be impressed with this new look he had acquired.

“But what about my blood, I’m part of this Yharnam now aren’t I?” Alex asked.

“You’ll be able to hunt with this blood, and these blood vials will give you strength should you be hurt, you’re a hunter in Yharnam and you’re a hunter in London, I would suggest you return to Iosefka’s Clinic and finish off that beast, that way you’ll know what you’re up against in this place, just use the lanterns and then you can return to London, but remember this Alexander, you’ll never be able to take the Piece of Eden or destroy it, not if you risk the Great Ones,” Gehrman said to Alexander. The Great Ones why did that sound familiar to him.

Alex left The Hunter’s Dream and returned to the clinic, armed with the Hunters Axe, he found the Scourge Beast dying on the floor of the clinic. He had never used such a weapon before, he was good with a knife or a revolver but not axes. The beast saw him and snarled, it lunged at him shrieking as it did and Alex swung the axe with his might and struck the beast in the neck, blood sprayed out of the beast and across everything as he began to hack at it, spilling more until it lay dead in its own blood, its fur matted and blackened the eyes cold like black polished stones. Alex looked down at the beast and breathed a sigh of relief and pressed the white button on the cuff. He couldn’t figure the kind of technology that it was, but it transported him back to London as Gehrman said it would.

Alex found himself outside his lab, it was dawn and the markets were opening up. The shop keeper next door saw Alex and hesitated before waving to him.

  
“Good morning sir,” the shop keeper called cheerfully. Alex pulled down the scarf and waved back, he still couldn’t believe what had happened to him, that Yharnam existed and that there was a Piece of Eden there. He went into his lab and went to examine the axe he had used to hack up that Scourge Beast. He set the axe down before he noticed one of the little skeletal messengers sitting on his work bench.

“What in the-,” he exclaimed as the little messenger produced a piece of parchment which read:

_I’ll be your messenger between here and the Hunters Dream._

Alex looked at the little creature which had a perpetual smile on its face.

  
“You do look quite cute, like a really…really weird pet,” he said to the messenger. He had half a mind to name the little thing.

 

By midday Alex and the messenger, now named Shayde, were sitting in the lab continuing work on the crossbow, Alex had changed out of his new Hunter clothes and into some less conspicuous, when Jacob and Evie entered having yet another conversation about giant rats.

“Evie, I know you hate rats, but you would literally shit yourself at the size of this one,” Jacob said.

  
“Please stop bringing up the giant rat, I don’t want to hear any more about this giant rat okay,” Evie said tired of this rat talk. Alex turned from his bench to see the twins who greeted him with friendly smiles

  
“Aleck, how was the meeting with this contact?” Evie asked him.

  
“Did they play nice?” Jacob asked in a patronising tone.

  
“I got followed by Templars, but good thing I had a Voltaic Bomb with me they’re now splattered chunks in the sewers probably being eaten by giant rats,” Alex told them, adding a sarcastic tone to the giant rat mention.

  
“Wow that was quite dark,” Jacob said slightly weirded out by Alex’s tone. Evie however didn’t have time for this and tapped Jacob on the shoulder.

  
“Exploding Templars aside, we came here to tell you something Aleck,” she said.

  
“Yes, we found something in the Kenway vault that you might be interested in looking at,” he said giving Alex a strange red shard.

 

“The note said it was called a bloodstone shard, you ever heard of such a thing?” Evie asked as Alex examined it.

  
“I can’t say I have, what else did the note say?”

“It mentioned an Assassin named Gehrman, who apparently disappeared around the same time that Ezio’s family was executed in 1476,” Evie explained showing him the note, Alex took it and read the note:

_Gehrman is gone, I have convinced the guild that he is dead, but I know where he has gone to, this shard was all that I found in his room. He called it a Bloodstone shard when he brought it to me, and said it contained powers in it that he had never seen, I don’t know if this power is good or not, but I will be keeping it locked away, Gehrman will be erased from the guilds history, no man will ever know of him or what he was trying to find._

Alex thought back to the old man in Hunters Dream, he found it hard to believe that the old man was over four hundred years old and part of the guild.

  
“If you can find out what it does that would be really helpful, in the meantime I think it’s time we pay Mr. Darwin a visit,” Jacob said eager to look for that giant rat again. Evie rolled her eyes as he quickly left the lab and she notice on the work bench Shayde sitting there.

“What is that?” she asked going over to the messenger. Alex forgot that Shayde was there and racked his brain for an excuse. “He is so cute, what are you little fellow?” Evie said picking up the tiny creature.

“That is Shayde, he’s an…I don’t really know what he is, he calls himself a messenger but his actual origins are a mystery,” Alex said to her.

“Well he’s adorable, like a Cornish Pixie, where did you find him?” Evie asked.

“Let’s go Evie!” Jacob shouted from outside. Evie sighed and put Shayde back on the bench.

  
“I really should go,” she said. She walked to the door and then turned around. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she said and left the lab.


	3. Giant Rats

Evie and Jacob left Lambeth to find Charles Darwin who was currently in the City of London. Jacob looked at his sister who seemed quiet.

“No Eden talk, no persuading me to forget about the giant rat, what are you thinking about sister?” he asked her.

“Nothing, forget it,” she said but Jacob wasn’t giving up.

“You’re thinking about our good friend Mr. Bell aren’t you, what could possess my high maintenance sister to think about the awkward science man?” Jacob asked teasing her. “Could it be that you find him sexy, do you fancy Alex?” Evie was tempted to stab her brother with her hidden blade if it would shut him up.

“Jacob stop it,” she said starting to get annoyed by him.

“Fine but if you won’t shag him I will, and speaking of which, hello Mr. Rook,” Jacob said as his attention turned to the Rook that passed him. He gave Jacob a suggestive wink which made Jacob trip over a cart causing Evie to laugh at her brother.

“And you used to call me boy crazy,” she remarked. Jacob picked himself up and caught up her with her.

“Correction, you’re boy crazy, I’m boy and girl crazy, Jacob Frye, the biggest bisexual in all of London,” he declared loudly to the street. “And I will find that Mr. Rook later on, when we’ve caught that giant rat.”

“Enough with the rat, it was probably a large dog or a very fluffy cat, there’s no such thing as giant rats,” Evie said. They continued to the city centre to find Darwin, if it would shut Jacob up about his obsession with the rat, she was willing to do anything.

They found Darwin amongst the flowers of a church graveyard and Jacob couldn’t tell if he was frolicking or studying.

“Mr Darwin, that was fun with the distillery and all but we have a science question,” he said to the man who was examining a butterfly.

“Butterflies are extraordinary aren’t they,” Darwin said ignoring Jacob.

“I don’t care about butterflies, I care about you telling me that giant rats exist,” he told Darwin. Darwin put away his magnifying glass and stood up to look at Jacob.

“There’s no such thing as giant rats,” he said. Evie thanked the gods above that they had an answer.

“Thank you Mr. Darwin, see Jacob, giant rats are not real,” she told her brother, but Jacob was not going give up.

“No, no it was real, I swear it, come on I will show you where I saw it,” he insisted walking away. Darwin sighed and he and Evie followed Jacob who was storming down the street.

He led them to the sewer where he supposedly found the rat.

“I was chasing a target for a bounty when the rat cornered me, the target got away and I nearly got eaten right here,” Jacob said pointing to a specific part of the floor like it was important. Evie looked at him like he was crazy and she suspected he was, he had been talking about the rat non-stop for the past two days.

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable expla-,” Darwin stopped talking, and looked behind Jacob. The twins turned around to see a giant rat watching them.

“Motherfucker,” Jacob said. The rat hissed and began to run at them. Evie threw a knife at it, but the rat was quick to dodge and leapt at Jacob. Jacob grabbed the rat and fell to the floor. “Kill it Evie!” he shouted as the rat snapped at him with bloody jagged teeth. Evie was frozen to the spot, the rat was huge!

“Now would be a good time,” Jacob cried as he threw the rat away from him. It hit the wall and jumped to its feet and hissed again, poised ready to attack when suddenly it was hit by an axe. The three of them looked to see a figure in black clothing hit the rat again with the axe killing it.

“Holy fuck,” Jacob said getting up from the floor. The stranger stood there watching them, Evie couldn’t see their face, but the eyes seemed familiar to her. The stranger then ran away.

“Wait,” she cried but the stranger was gone.

“Who was that?” Darwin asked them.

“Fuck the stranger, I told you that rat was real,” Jacob said to them. Evie looked at the dead rat and felt the urge to vomit rise in her throat.

“I fucking hate rats,” she said covering her mouth. Jacob picked up his hat and dusted it off. Darwin walked over to its corpse and kneeled down to get a better look.

“I have never seen anything like it, it’s nothing like the common rat, it’s…why it’s almost like it’s corrupted of sorts, look at the teeth, the eyes, the fur, this is no ordinary rat, I propose we take it back to my workshop to dissect and examine this creature,” Darwin said. Jacob grinned at the prospect of examining the rat, but Evie wasn’t as thrilled.

“You do that, I’m going to leave because I can’t stand to be in the same room as that thing,” she said turning on her heel and walking out of the sewer.

 

Darwin and Jacob took the rat back to the workshop Darwin owned which was filled with specimens and jars of dead animals, they put the rat on the table and Darwin got out his tools ready to dissect.

“Now Mr. Frye, what we have discovered could be a breakthrough in my theory of evolution, imagine the reaction if people realised that London was infested with giant rats,” he told Jacob.

“Better keep that information away from my sister then, you saw how she reacted to this one,” Jacob replied. Darwin nodded and picked up one of the sharp knives next to him.

 

Evie had returned to the train hoping that maybe a mission or request from a citizen would help take her mind off the rat.

“I hate rats,” she said storming past Henry who was reading a book on flowers.

“I didn’t take you to be afraid of rats Miss Evie,” he said turning the page of his book.

“I am when they’re the size of large dogs,” Evie replied sitting down in her chair. Henry looked up at her confused.

“There’s no such thing as giant rats,” he said.

“I kept saying that to Jacob, but lo and behold he was right, giant rats exist,” Evie said frustrated, Henry didn’t know whether to laugh or question her sanity, but she was clearly shaken by the ordeal.

“Well, maybe it was just the one,” he suggested hoping to lighten the mood.

“But the weird part was the man who saved us,” Evie told him, this caught Henry’s attention.

“What exactly happened?” he asked.

“We found Mr. Darwin and Jacob took us to the sewer where he claimed to see this rat, we thought he was making things up but then the rat attacked us, and then out of nowhere this man appeared, dressed down in black clothing, I couldn’t see his face but…those eyes, it felt like I knew who it was, I didn’t find out though, he ran away when the rat was dead,” she explained to Henry.

“So you were just saved by this stranger, no explanation needed or anything?”

“Nope, he just killed the rat and then left, I wish I could find out who it was though,” Evie sighed and remembered the shard. “We gave the shard we found in the vault to Aleck, you’re familiar with guild history do you know who this Gehrman was?” she asked Henry.

“I can’t say I do, Ezio’s history kind of overshadowed whatever happened to this Gehrman fellow that caused him to be erased from the guilds history, but from what I gather, he could have been looking for a Piece of Eden himself, we know there are many pieces out there, but I’ve heard rumours of there being a piece that cannot be obtained, I can’t remember what it was called though, I will need to do more research on this, what about his meeting you told me about?” Henry said.

“He never told us, he just mentioned Templars being exploded into chunks for the rats to eat,” she replied.

“That’s dark even for him,” he commented. He’d only met Alex once, and he concluded he was a nice man, if a little overconfident in his ability to craft weapons.

“I thought so too, but I should go talk to him about the meeting, perhaps he found something that could be beneficial to our cause,” she said standing up.

“A good idea, if he knows where this second Piece of Eden is and why the Templars are after it, we might be able to beat them to the punch so to speak,” Henry agreed. Evie walked to the carriage door as the train slowed down to pull into the station.

“I’ll let you know if he found anything,” she said jumping out onto the platform.


	4. Hunter

Four Carrion Crows surrounded Alex screeching at him in fury. He swung the axe at one striking it, the other three began to screech louder and started flapping their wings, he hit another, and another, and leaving one crow left.

“It’s just you and me now,” he said to the bird. It screeched and lifted itself off the ground ready to attack him, when he brought the axe down upon its head killing it. The birds were dead. “It’s safe now Gilbert the birds are dead,” he said tapping on the window of the house.

“Thank you outsider, I was worried those crows were going to break the glass,” said Gilbert from behind the window.

“Why are you inside anyway?” Alex asked him.

“I am cursed by the plague, I dare not leave for fear of spreading it to others, and Yharnam’s not been the same since it started,” Gilbert told him.

“What do you know about the Healing Church or the Great Ones, what about the Piece of Eden?” Alex asked.

“You met Gehrman yes, then he would have told you about how the Piece of Eden is what helped Yharnam come to be, the Healing Church worship the Great Ones, they control the Piece of Eden, they protect it,” Gilbert explained.

“How did a Piece of Eden get here and why would an Assassin become a Hunter?”

“I cannot tell you that, I do not know it, but you’ll want to talk to Eileen the Crow, she can help you, she’ll be in Central Yharnam too, near the sewers, but do it soon, the Night of the Hunt draws near,” Gilbert said. Alex was going to ask more questions when Shayde appeared from the ground with a message, he picked it up and read it.

“Evie is coming to the lab, I’ll have to speak to Eileen another day Gilbert, but thank you for your help, I will be back,” Alex said activating the button to return to London. Gilbert watch him disappear and observed the dead crows. What an extraordinary outsider, he thought to himself.

 

Alex arrived at the lab, it was late afternoon and he could Evie leaping across the rooftops heading his way. He headed inside and put the axe by the door and ran upstairs, he opened up an empty chest and threw the coat and hat inside it. The door opened downstairs, and he heard Evie shout:

“Aleck?” He took off the waistcoat and undid two of the buttons on his white shirt, it would have to do. He went back downstairs into the workshop where Evie was waiting.

“We never did finish our conversation from earlier,” she said.

“No, Jacob’s rat obsession got in the way what did you want to talk about?” he asked her.

“About your meeting with- is that blood on your face?” she asked him noticing the blood streaks across his face. Alex wiped his face and saw that it was blood.

“Templars,” was all he said hoping it would move the conversation along. “But in answer to your question, the meeting was quite short, the information I got from the contact was really vague, talking about the Great Ones and blood and hunting, honestly I think he was crazy,” Alex said. It wasn’t a good lie, he knew that much. Evie sighed.

“Oh well, back to square one, if the Templars really are looking for another Piece of Eden, they would have given up the search for the current one,” she said. Alex felt bad for lying to her, but he knew she wouldn’t believe him about Yharnam or Gehrman or him being a Hunter.

“What about your rat problem, Jacob was just making it up right?” he asked her as she leaned against the workbench.

“No it was real, it was big and it was fucking scary, right up until that stranger killed it,” she told him. This caught his attention.

“A stranger killed the giant rat in front of you?” he asked.

“Yes, it was strange, they were dressed in black and just ran away after they killed it,” she told him. Alex stood beside her as she looked at the floor. “I asked Henry about this Gehrman the note mentioned and he said that this person might have been looking for a Piece of Eden, though I could be wrong, but I just know something’s missing from the puzzle, have you figured out the bloodstone shard?”

“I did actually, from what I gather the shards are used for fortify weapons, they make them stronger, deadlier, it could be possible that the one you found in the vault was found by the Assassin’s in their search. Who knows, like Jacob said I’m not part of the guild, I just make your weapons,” Alex explained.

“Oh I think you’re guild enough,” Evie said.

“You think so?”

“I know so,” there was a moment of silence as they both looked at each other when suddenly a gunshot broke the silence.

“Where are you, you filthy ratbag,” shouted a Blighter from outside.

“That will be my cue to go,” Alex said running to the back door where his axe was.

“Aleck wait,” Evie called following after him. They ran out the back door and saw more Blighters coming around the corner. “Why do you have an axe?” she asked him.

“Not important, do you still have those Voltaic Bombs?” Alex asked, she nodded in reply.

“Good, because we’re going to need them, get to the carriage, you’ll need to drive,” he told her. She didn’t say anything but instead followed him to the carriage, they climbed on as the Blighters spotted them.

“There he is, get him!” shouted the Blighter Evie recognised as Leslie.

“Oh great it’s Leslie,” Evie mumbled taking the reins. Alex got onto the back of the carriage holding his axe in one hand and a bomb in the other.

“What did you do Aleck?” Evie demanded.

“Remember those Templars I killed who were following me, well it turns out that one of them was of a high rank in their order, they found out I killed them and now they’re after me,” he told her as the Blighters gained on them in another carriage. Evie sped the carriage up dodging lamp posts and other carriages, they got onto Westminster Bridge and Alex saw there were now three Blighter carriages.

“Hey Blighters, you want a Hunter, come and get me,” he shouted throwing the Voltaic Bomb at them, it hit the centre carriage, blowing it up and knocking the other two off slightly, but they were quick to catch up. One of the Blighters jumped onto their carriage.

“You’ll pay for what you did,” he said to Alex aiming his gun at him.

“Is that so, well how about I AXE you a question,” he retorted slamming the axe against the Blighter, it sliced the man clean in two and he flew off the carriage. “Are you okay Evie?” Alex called to her.

“I’m fine, but we need to find a place to hide,” she shouted back over the sound of gunshots. Alex jumped down beside her in the carriage.

“Alright, head north, I know somewhere we can hide out,” he told her. Evie turned the carriage north as they exited the bridge and drove up past the Thames River until they got to a small alley that led to an abandoned house.

“We can hide out in there,” Alex said leaping out of the carriage as Evie slowed it to a stop.

“What about the carriage?” she asked.

“Send it back without us, it’ll be fine,” he replied going up to the door. Evie sent the horse and carriage away and followed him into the abandoned house. The house had been abandoned for some time, the paint was peeling on the walls and there was no electricity.

“How long has this house been empty?” Evie asked Alex.

“About eight months,” Alex explained. Evie struck a match and lit a nearby candle, it wasn’t much light as the windows were all boarded up.

“So why are we here?”

“Because there is something here I need to find, it’s a key of some sorts, old, rusted, but not like an ordinary key,” Alex told her.

“We’re here to look for a key,” Evie said unimpressed.

“And to hide from Leslie as well,” Alex added on. Evie held up the candle and followed Alex, up the stairs. “If I’m right it should be in here and will have a black feather engraved on it,” he said opening the door to a room. Evie followed him in and set the candle down, the room was dusty and the bed untouched, it was as if whomever lived there disappeared. She watched Alex searched the room, he kneeled down and looked under the bed and saw a small pouch.

“I found it,” he said grabbing the pouch, he opened it to find a rusted key engraved with a feather in it. “Just where Gilbert said it would be,” he said.

“Who’s Gilbert?” Evie asked.

“Just someone with information, he said the key is important,” he said. Evie could tell he was hiding something from her.

“Aleck, what exactly happened to you last night?” she asked him. Alex sighed, he knew he’d have to tell her.

“If I tell you what happened, please don’t tell Jacob,” he said, Evie nodded as walked over to him.

“I promise, what happened?”

“I was followed by the Templars and got trapped between them and the end of the sewer tunnel which led down. I threw the bomb and killed them, but I had to jump, I fell unconscious and the next thing I know I was in a clinic and…this man, it was Gehrman, the Assassin you mentioned, he made me sign this contract and then there was this wolf and…you must think I’m crazy,” Alex said turning away from her, Evie grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“I don’t, go on,” she said.

“I am now a Hunter, I have the blood of Yharnam inside my veins and…I was the one who saved you from the rat, Shayde said that the doorway between London and Yharnam had been breached, and when Jacob brought up that fucking rat again, I realised what it was and I had to find answers,” Alex said.

“You saved us?” Evie said. She thought back to the moment it happened, and realised why she felt that strange feeling of familiarity. “It was you, I knew something was strange but…Aleck why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid, I thought I was going to die in Yharnam, that I would never see you again and when I killed that beast, I…I can’t let the Templars get to Yharnam, Starrick and Thorne know I know something and they will stop at nothing to find me and the doorway to Yharnam, I don’t know why they want the Piece of Eden…but you said that the clues to the Piece of Eden in London were falling short, well what if these two pieces are connected, two halves of a puzzle that needs to be solved,” Alex told her.

“Two halves of a puzzle, but how?” Evie asked.

“Gehrman said that the piece in Yharnam cannot be destroyed or taken, not unless I risk the Great Ones, Gehrman went to Yharnam for the piece and ended up staying there for nearly 400 years, and Gilbert said that Yharnam is cursed by a plague,” Alex said. All the information felt scattered in his mind, but he knew there had to be links somewhere.

“Do you think London and Yharnam are connected?” Evie asked him.

“Yharnam does not exist in this world, it exists in an entirely different realm hence the transporter Gehrman gave me and this ‘doorway’ underneath London, if we want to find both Pieces of Eden, we’ll need to find out how much the Templars know about Yharnam, we need to go back to mine and send a message to Gehrman,” Alex said leaving the room. Evie followed him grabbing the candle on her way.

“We should tell Henry then,” she suggested. Alex agreed that the master assassin would be needed for this as well. He was glad that Evie sort of understood what happened to him. They left the abandoned house and walked back to Lambeth, it was important they find the connection between London and Yharnam before the Templars did.


	5. Mr. Rook

Four days had passed since Alex told the truth about Yharnam, they were reluctant to tell Jacob what happened as he was busy spending his time beating up gangs and studying the giant rat with Charles Darwin. He, however, had noticed Evie and Alex spending a lot of time together and while he relished in the thought of teasing his sister mercilessly about her supposed crush on the Scotsman, he refrained and focused his time on conquering London for the Rooks. That was until he found Mr. Rook again.

In a gang stronghold in The Strand Jacob was taking out a group of Blighters with the hallucinogenic darts when he recognised one of the captured Rooks. He perched on top of a building and aimed one of his hallucinogenic darts at a fire and fired the dart. It caused nearby Blighters to go mad and start attacking each other like crazy animals, allowing him to kills them with ease.

“Never go up against a Blighter stronghold without the aid of Jacob Frye, master assassin,” he told the now freed Rooks.

“Thank you Mister Frye, sir,” several of them told him as they left to return to their duties, all but one stayed behind.

“Impressive moves, Jacob Frye, I didn’t think I’d see you since you tripped over the apple cart,” he said. Jacob eyed up the man, he was a handsome dark haired man with piercing green eyes and, in Jacob’s opinion, a finely trimmed physique.

“London’s not that big, good sir,” he replied.

“The name is Charlie, Charlie Maddox,” the man replied. Jacob smirked at the man and walked over to him.

“Nice to finally meet you Charlie, my sister’s off cavorting about with the Scottish science man which means I have no one to liberate the child factories, care to help?” he offered. Charlie smiled and nodded.

“Lead the way Mister Frye,” he replied.

Charlie and Jacob headed for the Strand Mill, there were about eight Blighters on the first two floors and three on the third. Jacob and Charlie waited outside for two Blighters to walk out before taking them down.

“You take the top floor, I’ll destroy the bell,” he whispered. Charlie began to climb up the wall to the open window whilst Jacob crept across the factory floor and cut off the inside of the bell. He held the large heavy ball in his hand and launched it at a Blighter. It struck the man in the head killing him.

“Well done me,” he whispered to himself. He then crept up behind two more Blighters, who were having a conversation, grabbed their collars and bashed their heads together, the men fell unconscious from the force but it had caught the attention of the rest on the floor.

“Oi, get him,” one shouted. Jacob grinned as it was now him against three blighters, he took out his brass knuckles and punched one in the face, knocking several teeth out.

“Who’s next?” Jacob asked in a cool tone as another Blighter ran at him. He laughed and hit the Blighter in the face, knocking him out cold. The third one was about to shoot him when a knife went straight through him, blood bubbled out of his mouth and he fell to the floor, standing there wiping the blade clean was Charlie. Jacob felt his heart burst into a thousand butterflies, this man was perfect.

“I know you could have taken him, but I wanted to show off,” Charlie remarked. Jacob laughed and the children, who had all been watching the fight, cheered for them.

“Thank you sir, now we can go to our homes,” said one of the children.

“Stay safe kid and look for Clara, she might be able to give you a job, one with better hours and pay,” he told the kid.

“Well, that was fun, now how about a drink, I know a good place where they sell this amazing ale,” Charlie suggested.

“I like the sound of that,” Jacob agreed.

 

They went to a pub in Southwark called The Anchor where they found Charles Dicken sitting in the corner writing.

“Mr Dickens sir, how are you this fine evening?” Jacob asked the writer.

“I’m on the trail of a ghost hunt, would you be interested in finding the origin of this ghost?” he asked Jacob. He looked at Charlie who seemed alright with the idea.

“Okay, this is my friend Charlie, what is the story today?” Jacob asked.

“There is a supposed walking corpse in Lambeth or a ghost, the rumours change so much, I need you two to see if it is real or just some drunkard who wanders about at night, it’s getting dark so I suggest you go now,” Charles said shooing them away. Neither Jacob nor Charlie argued with the writer and left the pub to go to Lambeth.

“So you just know everyone in this city then?” Charlie asked.

“I haven’t met the Queen yet so not everyone,” Jacob replied laughing.

 

They arrived in Lambeth outside Alex’s workshop, it was closed meaning Evie and Alex were out somewhere doing who knows what. Jacob went around the back of the street and saw what it was people had been describing.

“Look at that Charlie, he’s dragging some kind of giant saw, who does that?” Jacob remarked.

“Is it even or corpse or drunk, they look so…inhuman,” Charlie replied. Jacob walked over to the person with the saw.

“Excuse me, sir…sir,” Jacob asked cautiously. The person turned around and Jacob’s voice vanished, the man was grotesque, crazed, afflicted with something and looked angry.

“Foul beast!” he shouted at Jacob before attacking him with the saw. Jacob leapt back as the crazed man started swiping at him. Charlie threw a knife at the crazed man, hitting him in the eye which began to bleed heavily.

“What the fuck,” Jacob exclaimed as he pulled out his pistol and shot the man. The man then roared and swiped at Jacob knocking him backwards. He raised his saw ready to slice Jacob up when Charlie ran up behind the crazed man and began stabbing him profusely with his knife. The man fell to the ground and muttered:

“You are cursed,” before dying. Charlie helped Jacob up who was shaken by nearly being hacked up.

“Are you okay, I thought you were-,” Charlie began before Jacob interrupted him with a forceful kiss.

“Thank you,” he said after he let him go.

“No, thank you,” Charlie said kissing him back.

 

They returned to the train which was quiet, some Rooks were playing cards in one of the carriages, and Henry was engrossed in a copy of Pride and Prejudice in his own carriage.

“Is Evie around?” Jacob asked Henry walking into his carriage.

“No she’s off with Alexander,” Henry replied not looking up from the book.

“Is she fucking the man or something, those two have been inseparable for the past week,” Jacob said.

“It’s not my business if she is, why are you looking for her?” Henry said looking up from the book finally.

“I wanted to make sure I could get the carriage to myself, I found Mr. Rook and we’re going to need our privacy,” Jacob told him. Henry didn’t need to know who Jacob was sleeping with, or who Evie was sleeping with for that matter, and went back to his book.

“Well good for you Jacob, just keep it down I’m trying to read Miss Austen,” he said to Jacob. Jacob ignored the book comment and went back to his private carriage and locked the doors.

“Well we are alone, Evie’s off shacking up with Aleck and Henry is off in his own world pretending that he’s Mr. Darcy,” he told Charlie who was sitting in the chair waiting for him.

“Good,” was all he said before Jacob pulled him into a passionate kiss, Charlie pulled him closed pushing his hat off him and running his hands through his hair.

“God, I want you,” Jacob muttered. He pulled off his coat and threw it on the floor and climbed onto Charlie. He tugged Charlie’s jacket, pulling it off him when suddenly someone started banging on the carriage door.

“Ignore it, it’s probably Evie,” Charlie suggested kissing Jacob again and beginning to unbutton his shirt. The person banged on the carriage door again and Jacob growled under his breath and climbed off Charlie.

“Evie, I swear if that’s you, I’ll-,” he began as he opened the door to see the Blighter Leslie. “Oh fuck!” Jacob exclaimed dodging his left hook.

“Where is he?” Leslie shouted. Charlie grabbed the gun from the table and aimed it at Leslie as he barged his way in.

“Where is who, I don’t have time deal with this shit right now,” Jacob said annoyed at this blatant invasion of privacy.

“Where is the Hunter,” Leslie demanded. Jacob grabbed his knife from the floor and leapt onto Leslie’s back and stabbed him in the neck. Leslie choked on his blood as he struggled to grab Jacob and throw him off, Jacob steered him towards the carriage door and got off his back.

“I said I don’t have time,” he said kicking Leslie off the train. Blood splattered upwards over the carriages as Leslie got crushed under the wheels of the train. Jacob turned back to Charlie who put the gun back on the table.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Jacob said closing the door. He walked to Charlie and pulled him into a kiss. “Now where were we?”


	6. Lucy Thorne’s Obsession

Crawford Starrick sat in his chair sipping on his tea as he listened to the report concerning Leslie’s death the next day.

“We failed to recover Leslie’s body it was…his foot was all we could find sir,” said the Blighter reporting to Crawford.

“So he’s dead, well that’s perfect, you may leave,” he ordered to the Blighter, who bowed and left. Crawford sighed and put the tea cup on his desk. “Leslie is dead, I put my faith in him, he let me down by getting crushed by a train and we’re still no closer to finding Yharnam,” he said to Lucy who was stood observing a large board of clues.

“Don’t be so sure of that Crawford, if we can find the Shroud of Eden we’ll be closer to finding Yharnam,” she said pinning a picture to the centre of the board.

“How so my lady?” Crawford asked her getting out of his chair. He walked to the board and saw that Lucy had pinned up a picture of Alex.

“Alexander Graham Bell, twenty-one years of age, inventor, and rumour has it, lover of the assassin Evie Frye,” she said.

“Lover?”

“Just speculation, reports have come in saying that they have been seen together frequently, I did notice in the reports that Mr Bell was seen wielding a strange axe, I looked into it further and found that he is possession of a Hunter’s Axe, you only find those in Yharnam,” Lucy explained.

“He’s been to Yharnam?” Crawford exclaimed.

“We haven’t confirmed anything, but in the search for the Yharnam Piece of Eden, he is our number one suspect, unfortunately with that Evie clinging onto him, no one’s been able to get near him long enough to question him, if we can get to him, we’ll be able to see if he knows not only where the Piece of Eden is, but also how to get it. The Great Ones will see this world belong to them once more,” Lucy said.

“The Great Ones, Lucy I do not follow?” Crawford asked. Lucy smiled at the good man and picked up from the chair beside her, a book and placed it on his desk.

“Eldritch beings worshipped by the Healing Church, when Queen Yharnam made a contract with a Great One to bear a child, she died in the process of giving birth to Mergo, but she made a mistake that resulted in her death, you see when Queen Yharnam made the contract, she made it in the dream world and not the waking world, which corrupted the child making it only able to live in a nightmare,” she explained.

“How is this important?” Crawford asked. Lucy slammed her hand on the book and looked at him with passion.

“How many people do you know have had an audience with a God, if we follow the ritual as planned and have beings of the Church present, we will have the insight that the Great Ones themselves have,” she said to him. Crawford’s eyes widened at the thought.

“Is it possible, to obtain the knowledge of a God?” he whispered.

“But we can’t do it without the Piece of Eden that’s hidden in Yharnam, which is why we need him, if he’s been to Yharnam then he knows where the doorway is, I have been searching for the doorway ever since I found out about Queen Yharnam, the clues are scarce and complex, but I will find it, and we will need the Shroud of Eden, they say there’s a clue hidden within it, that will tell us how to complete the ritual,” Lucy said as she looked at the board. “Let’s do something basic, we send Blighters to kidnap him and bring him here, we question him and if he refuses to give us the information, well we can always use Miss Frye as bargaining.”

“Excellent idea Lucy, I in the meantime have to deal with the havoc her brother is causing to my city, the little bastard will pay for killing Leslie,” Crawford said as he looked out of the window. “I will not lose this city to the guild.”

Lucy left Crawford’s office shortly after, she read the report about Evie and Alex being spotted near the Thames in Westminster and she wanted to observe them. She took her carriage, driven by a fellow Blighter, and opened up the book she had shown Crawford.

“Why does this book have no mention of the doorway to Yharnam,” she muttered as she turned the pages, it spoke of the Great Ones but no mention of the doorway or the history of the Hunters. As she drove along the bridge, she saw a carriage pass with Evie and Alex in it.

“Driver follow that carriage that just passed,” she ordered.

Right away Miss Thorne,” the drive said turning the carriage around on the road. They followed them down across to Southwark and into Lambeth, she wondered where they were going. After another twenty minutes of following, she saw they were at Lambeth Asylum.

“What are they doing here?” she wondered as she watched them get out of the carriage, carefully, she picked up her black cape beside her and put it on to hide her Templar band and left the carriage, she slowly walked down the path behind them only stopping when they did to observe the building.

“Are you sure it’s here Aleck?” she heard Evie ask.

“Quite so Evie, Gilbert said the key was to his old room which they’ve kept locked for about twenty years after he supposedly disappeared,” Alex replied to Evie.

“Do you think Gehrman took Gilbert back to Yharnam after he escaped?” Evie asked.

“Gilbert said that when he escaped to London, he unknowingly brought this strange plague with him, Gehrman sent Hunters to bring him back and stop the plague from spreading, he said that when he was in the Asylum he could see writing on the walls while he was chained up, well he speculates as the plague has affected his memory, he said he if he remembers more he’d be sure to tell me, of course no one could see this writing he claimed to see, but if it’s like what you saw in the Kenway house, then it could be another clue to finding the Shroud,” Alex explained to Evie. Lucy moved slightly closer to them but keeping her face hidden from view.

“And if we find the Shroud we can find the Yharnam piece, but what connects them?”

“I don’t know, Gehrman said that the Piece of Eden in Yharnam was used to create the Hunt, what I can’t understand is why the Piece is connected to the Great Ones, Henry said there are no records of the First Civilisation worshipping Gods,” Alex said. Lucy watched as they walked up to the door and went inside. She would need Blighters to go in after them and find the clue. She returned to the carriage and set out to the nearest stronghold that Jacob hadn’t taken over.

Inside Lambeth Alex and Evie went down to the basement where the solitary cells were.

“Gilbert said it should be room fourteen, apparently they had chained him up and experimented on him when the plague started manifesting into his blood,” Alex said. Evie felt slightly unnerved by the darkness of the solitary cells. They finally came to room fourteen.

“I don’t like this,” Evie said grabbing Alex’s hand. He put the key in the lock and turned it, the lock clicked and the door creaked open. “Now I really don’t like this,” she said. Alex pushed the door open, the cell was empty except for a bed in the corner.

“What did Gilbert see, it’s just an empty room,” Alex said walking into the cell. Evie observed the walls trying to remember the notes in the Kenway house. There was something missing. She then saw the bed, if Gilbert was chained the bed and saw the words but no one else did, maybe they were on the ceiling. She went to the bed and lay down on it and looked up at the ceiling. There was something on the ceiling.

“Alex come here, I think I found it,” she said pointing up at the ceiling. Alex lay down beside her and looked up, slowly words began to appear in the ceiling.

“At the altar of Saint Paul,” he said confused, what did Saint Paul have to do with the Shroud?

“Saint Paul’s Cathedral on Ludgate Hill,” Evie said. “Leading to the Piece of Eden perhaps, but why would Gilbert’s key lead us to that clue and not the one I found in Kenway Manor,” she asked.

“It’s a mystery, but we have next lead on the Shroud,” Alex said. They left the cell and walked back up to the main floor.

“So we go to Saint Pauls Cathedral…interesting, that medallion in Kenway’s vault was a clue towards the piece, but I can’t fathom what it would lead to,” Evie confirmed as she looked through the Assassin book.

“Thank you for that piece of information Miss Frye, unfortunately you will not be going to the Cathedral,” said Lucy Thorne appearing at the open doors of the Asylum.

“Lucy Thorne,” Evie said staring viciously at the Templar.

“The very same, but it’s good of you to help in my search for the Shroud of Eden, I intend to find it and then I will find Yharnam,” she said to them.

“What do you know about Yharnam?” Alex demanded. Lucy laughed as about ten Blighters appeared out from behind pillars.

“More than you think Mr Bell, unfortunately we’ll have to cut this conversation short, boy’s kill Miss Frye but leave Mr Bell, Crawford Starrick wants him alive,” Lucy said closing the doors. The Blighters surrounded them.

“Well shit, where Jacob is when you need him,” Evie said holding out her cane. Alex took the axe from the holster on his back and transformed it into a halberd axe. “What the-,” Evie whispered, she’d not seen the axe do that before.

“Let’s dance you sons of bitches,” Alex shouted swinging the axe against a Blighter. The axe sliced through the man quickly killing him instantly. Evie smacked her cane against a Blighter and stabbed another with her hidden blade. Together they began to kill the Blighters blood spraying over the walls and furniture until there was nothing left but ten corpses in a lake of blood.

“Let’s dance you sons of bitches?” Evie asked Alex as they left the Asylum.

“Yeah, I don’t know what came over me, it was the same on the bridge when we were being chased,” Alex replied.

“What did you say then?”

“I said, can I axe you a question and then sliced one of the Blighters in two,” Alex said. Evie laughed at the pun he had made. It was funny in a really corny way to her, and she enjoyed bad jokes.

“That’s funny Alex, can I axe you a question, come on, we should tell Henry that Crawford’s got eyes on us,” the train wasn’t too far away as they scaled up to the bridge to wait for the train to pass by and jump onto it.


	7. The Crow

When the train ‘Bertha’ finally passed them on the bridge, they jumped onto the top of a carriage.

“It’s easier than getting a train ticket just to get onto the platform,” Evie told him as they opened the door to Henry’s carriage. He was reading in his chair again, this time reading Oliver Twist.

“I see you are reading Mr Dickens Henry, any good?” Evie asked.

“The Artful Dodger reminds me of your brother, he’s a bit of a scamp as well,” Henry observed as he read.

“I had the same feeling when I met Jacob, he does appear to have that ‘steal your coin purse’ look to him” Alex said. Henry thumbed down the page he was reading and closed the book.

“How did Lambeth Asylum go?” he asked them.

“As well as you’d expect, we found a clue and then Lucy Thorne tried to have us killed,” Evie explained. “The clue was ‘at the altar of Saint Paul’, meaning the next clue is in the Cathedral, although the use of altar feels ambiguous because that place is huge.”

“The altar might not mean a literal altar, clues are cryptic, what about you Alexander?” Henry asked.

“I wish I had time to decipher it but I have to go meet Eileen the Crow, apparently she can tell me more about Yharnam and the Piece of Eden and it’s been a week since I was last there,” Alex replied.

“Can I come?” Evie asked.

“Really, you want to go to Yharnam?” Henry asked perplexed by her decision.

“Of course, I want to see what we’re up against,” she said to them. Alex didn’t find the idea bad.

“It can’t hurt,” he said agreeing with her idea.

“Well let’s go now,” she said pleased with herself. Alex took Evie’s hand and showed her the transporter on his wrist.

“Press the black button, we should arrive in Iosefka’s Clinic,” he told her. She pressed the button and the two of them disappeared right before Henry.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered and went back to reading.

 

Alex and Evie arrived in Iosefka’s Clinic, the place was empty and the Scourge Beast was decaying in the main room. They left the clinic and walked into Central Yharnam, there were several townsfolk wandering about searching for beasts.

“Be careful, though the townsfolk in Central Yharnam seem docile right now, their attitude changes when it’s time for the evening hunts,” Alex warned her and pulled up his scarf to hide his mouth as they passed through the gates past the Executioner who wandered about the alley with a giant cleaver. Evie pulled her hood up but she was surprised by Yharnam, it reminded her of London but was almost like a waking nightmare, coffins were perched up against walls, carriages were abandoned and townsfolk wandered about like living corpses dragging their weapons across the ground. As they walked over to Eileen’s home near the sewer they overheard two townsfolk talking.

“I hear he left.”

“Just disappeared from Yharnam, impossible.”

“It’s true, he vanished into thin air the last they saw of him was in Old Yharnam to see Djura and then…poof…gone.”

Alex and Evie glanced at each other and continued walking. People in Yharnam don’t just vanish. They passed a group of townsfolk standing around a bonfire they were chatting aimlessly about the day when the topic changed.

“Are you going to fight the Cleric Beast?”

“Not a chance, that thing killed another Hunter and if it’s killing them then there’s no way I’m going up against it.”

“Well someone has to get rid of it.”

“What’s a Cleric Beast?” Evie asked Alex.

“I don’t know, but from what I’ve heard from the townsfolk during the day, it’s a creature that comes out at night and wanders about the bridge, like a troll in those old fairy tales,” he replied as they walked under the archway towards Eileen’s house. She couldn’t help but notice how different Alex seemed in Yharnam, she remembered the first time she met him, he seemed quite shy meeting her and would call her Miss Frye, he still seemed that way in London, but not here, in Yharnam he seemed like a completely different person. They then came to a house with a lantern on the outside.

“We’re here,” he said and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” came a voice from the other side.

“Outsiders, we come to ask about the Piece of Eden,” Alex said. There was silence for a moment and then the door opened and woman in a plague mask appeared.

“You must be the Hunter everyone is whispering about, and who are you?” the woman asked Evie.

“Evie Frye, I’m an Assassin, not a Hunter,” she answered. This took the woman’s attention.

“Assassin, interesting, it’s been a while since we’ve had an Assassin step foot in Yharnam, I am Eileen, I was once an outsider and now I too am a Hunter, come inside, the nightly hunt begins soon and you do not want to be out here when they begin,” Eileen said inviting them inside. The house was similar to the houses in London, fancy wallpaper and oil lamps on the walls with a fireplace in the living room.

“Who was the last Assassin to come here?” Evie asked looking at the photographs on the walls.

“His name was Kenway, Edward I believe, he did not stay long according to the legend, he came to look for someone but when his efforts were fruitless he left,” Eileen told Evie. Edward Kenway came to Yharnam, she thought to herself as they entered the living room of Eileen’s home.

“Gilbert said you might know more about why the Assassin’s would come to Yharnam to search for the Piece of Eden, Gehrman said that it’s impossible to get it because of the Great Ones,” Alex said.

“Yes it is true, the Piece of Eden is protected greatly, I do not know what specific piece it is though,” Eileen said.

“Why is the name of the piece important?” Evie asked Eileen who was looking out the window.

“Isn’t every piece important, like the apple or the chalice?” she asked them. Evie had no answer, she never considered the importance of the pieces just their danger if they fell into Templar hands. “But perhaps the question isn’t if the piece is protected, by why is it hidden,” Eileen said. Well that just made no sense to Evie, she looked at Alex who was just as confused as she was.

“What do you mean why?” he asked Eileen.

“The hunt begins, you two should leave before they find you,” she said switching to the subject of the nightly hunt. They looked out the window to see the townsfolk assembled into a mob with their weapons moving east towards the bridge.

“Let’s go Evie, we don’t want to be outside when the hunt begins,” Alex said pushing up his sleeve to see the transporter.

“One more thing Hunter before you go, beware of things getting into your world, the doorway’s starting to fall apart,” she warned them. Alex nodded and pressed the white button and they were transported back to the lab.

It was evening in London and there were no clouds in the sky. Outside the lab Alex and Evie waited for a Rook to drive them to the station to wait for the train.

“How does that transporter thing work exactly?” Evie asked.

“Gehrman wasn’t very specific, but I think it’s got two centre points of transportation, the clinic and my lab, I think it’s the same magic or technology that the lanterns use,” Alex replied.

“Well the trip wasn’t a total waste, but we learned nothing about the Piece of Eden’s connection to Yharnam and Lucy is going to find the next clue at Saint Pauls, might as well call it the end and go hide in a cave,” Evie said realising that the Templars were going to be a step ahead of them. Alex thought back to the confrontation with Lucy in the Asylum and he didn’t remember her mentioning the clue specifically.

“Not necessarily Evie, we never said it was a clue we were looking for we just said we were going to the Cathedral, for all we know she might think the Shroud of Eden is hidden in the Cathedral,” Alex told her.

“And she’ll overlook the altar, Aleck you’re a genius,” Evie cried throwing her arms around him. The carriage drove up and the Rook called out:

“Miss Frye, how are you this evening?”

“Excellent my good man, now take us to the train station,” she said climbing up into the carriage. They just might beat Starrick with enough time.

 

When the train pulled up at the station, they found Henry reading again in his chair, this time it was Wuthering Heights. Alex wondered if reading was all Henry did seeing as he always had a book in his hand.

“I’m going to grab my other cloak, I’m in the mood for red,” Evie told them jumping to the next carriage. Alex leaned on Henry’s chair and read over his shoulder before Evie yelled out in shock.

“Jesus Christ Jacob!” She leapt back into the carriage face pale and eyes wide, and then Jacob leapt into the carriage, wearing nothing but black trousers. Henry fought to hide the laughter.

“Well thank you for interrupting that, I doubt Charlie will ever visit my carriage again,” Jacob said slightly irritated with her.

“You said you were fighting gangs for control of London for the next week,” Evie said.

“I was until I met Charlie, trust me, having you break into the carriage was a sight better than Leslie,” Jacob replied.

“Hold on a moment, a Blighter got onto the train, do you know how much stuff we have here that they could have taken,” Evie said in frustration.

“Don’t worry, he didn’t take anything, I killed him before he could even get his knife, he was interrupting my time with Charlie,” Jacob explained.

“You killed a high-ranking Blighter just so you could have sex, are you stupid or something?” Evie shouted at her brother.

“It was Leslie, he’s been after us for weeks and now he’s no longer a problem because Bertha flattened him,” Jacob said calmly. Evie then stormed into the other carriage and Jacob followed after her, which led to a half-dressed Charlie being kicked into Henry’s carriage.

“Hi I’m Charlie, are they always like this?” he asked them. Henry nodded.

“They are twins Charlie, and like all siblings they fight, it’s just these two fight over the important things, I’m Henry and this is Alexander,” he said. They could still hear them fighting in the other carriage with Evie throwing the word ‘bastard’ around quite frequently, it was going to be a long night on the train.


	8. Distraction

The next morning was another rainy one, Evie and Jacob were not speaking to each other and Henry was now the middleman between them.

“Sometimes I feel like their babysitter, which is frustrating because it’s not my job to look after two grown adults, my job is to keep the Pieces of Eden out of Templar hands,” Henry explained to Charlie and Alex that morning over breakfast which was the two of them sitting on the floor eating bread and butter whilst Henry sat in the comfort of his chair, which he had not moved from.

“I thought you were a foreign librarian,” Charlie said.

“I’m not a librarian, I just enjoy reading…also I’m from India which need I remind you is part of the British Empire,” Henry explained to him with a strong patronising tone which. He had clearly offended Henry with his assumption.

“Okay, I’m sorry…what about you Alex, what are you? Henry said you were some kind of science man,” Charlie asked Alex.

“I’m an engineer and I’ve been roped into finding the Piece of Eden since the Templars tried to kill me, they’re convinced I know something. Now I know a lot of things, the Shroud of Eden I know nothing about, but if you were to ask me the easiest way to take a man off his feet in a fight, I could name you eight ways it would be possible, I’m not just a man of science, I’ve had my fair share of fights,” Alex said to Charlie.

“Did you fight at events because if you did, you could come to the fight club tonight,” Charlie asked impressed.

“As a teenager I did, which wasn’t that long ago now that I think about it, and fight clubs in Scotland are brutal, I’ve seen men die in those fights,” Alex explained. Henry then burst out laughing.

“You, a fighter, don’t make me laugh,” he said not believing a word of it.

“You might laugh Henry, but my first fight was against a man from Glasgow named one-eyed Pete when I was fifteen, he broke my left arm, gave me a black eye and I still managed to beat him through sheer luck,” Alex explained. Evie then dropped into the carriage from the roof carrying a new set of knives.

“More knives for the killing, is my brother around?” she asked.

“He left to go fight a stronghold without me, I haven’t caused a rift have I?” Charlie asked.

“No Charlie, you haven’t, I was just mad because Lucy might get to the Shroud before us and Yharnam was creepy and…forget it,” she replied. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief that Evie wasn’t mad at him. Alex could tell she was still upset even if her tone didn’t show it and then remembered something Jacob said before he left the train at dawn.

“I know a way you can take a break and sort of keep working at the same time,” he said.

“How?” Evie asked.

“Do you know where the nearest Blighter filled area is?” he asked going to the carriage door. Evie shrugged at the question. “Doesn’t matter we’re in Westminster it will do,” he said jumping out the carriage onto the platform of Westminster Station. She looked at Henry and Charlie who looked at her with silence and she followed him onto the platform.

“So what is your deal?” Charlie asked Henry who was now opening a copy of The Origin of Species.

“I like to read,” was all he said to Charlie.

 

Evie followed Alex to a stronghold in Westminster which was filled with about twenty to thirty Blighters. It had stopped raining but the clouds still loomed over the city Evie looked to see Alex already scaling up a building with no lookout and had no time protest the idea he had.

“I must be out of my mind,” she muttered to herself as she scaled up the building herself. It seemed logical to her that Alex would have his own rope launcher considering his skill with crafting weapons for them. “Okay now why are we here, we’re practically handing ourselves over to the Blighters,” she said to Alex who was sitting on the roof.

“I know, but no one can see us from this building so we’re safe, I figured you could use a break so why not use hallucinogenic darts on the Blighters for fun,” he suggested.

“Jacob suggested it, didn’t he,” she said suspiciously, Alex nodded.

“Yeah, he suggested it, he said you needed to ‘relax for five minutes’,” he said shooting a dart down at a Blighter who then went berserk and started attacking everyone.

“I’ll admit that I need a break, but I just want to continue my father’s work, it’s barely been a year…I just don’t want to let him down you know,” she said sitting beside Alex and taking a dart.

“I understand,” Alex said to her.

“You do?” she asked shooting the dart. Alex nodded and looked down at his hands.

“Yes, late last year my health deteriorated for a while, I’d overworked myself, and my brother Edward came down with tuberculosis, he died shortly after. I moved back to London to focus on my work and for a while I thought I let him down by not being there for him, he was only nineteen, he had so much potential and to lose him to that…sometime when you forget they’re gone, you feel guilty for living,” he said. Evie hadn’t seen this side to Alex, nor did she know he had lost a brother.

“I’m sorry Alex,” she said taking his hand.

“Don’t be, sometimes life just deals you a bad hand and the best way to accept it is to remember the good times,” Alex said taking another dart and aiming it at a Blighter, he shot and it hit the man in the eye. “If the hallucinations won’t kill him, I can always aim for the other eye,” Alex said. Evie laughed as the man attacked everyone in a frenzy and she remembered the pun about the axe.

“When I first killed a man with the throwing knives, I said ‘knife to meet you’ Jacob thought it was terrible, and I couldn’t stop laughing at my own joke,” she said remembering how terrible the joke was. Alex laughed and watched as the Blighters tried to look around for where the darts were coming from. He shot another dart at them and it hit the fire, a Blighter then looked up at saw them sitting there and pointed over at them.

“We’ve been spotted Evie, should we finish them off or run?” Alex said giving them two options. Evie watched as one crazed Blighter started attacking the remaining five left.

“No let’s stay, if they start climbing up the roofs we can run,” she said. She shot a dart at the Blighter walking their way who then proceeded to scream and charge at the Templar Stronghold leader who had arrived to find out what was going on. Alex and Evie burst out laughing as the Templar got chased by the last two Blighters standing before tripping over, causing the Blighters to attack each other.

“Come on, I have an idea,” Alex said standing up. He jumped to the next roof and looked down at the Templar who was hopelessly confused by the whole ordeal. Evie stood beside Alex and they watched the Templar look around the area. Alex noticed the hanging barrels above the Templar and climbed onto them. “Watch this,” he whispered to Evie as he stood on the top barrel holding onto the rope.

“Excuse me Templar sir,” he shouted down to the Templar. They looked up to see Alex waving down at them. “Mind if I drop in,” he asked and cut the rope. The Templar was hit by the barrels before having a chance to run and was knocked out cold leaving Alex hanging onto the rope that was still tied to the roof.

“It would have been clever if you’d let go of the rope as well,” Evie said helping him back onto the roof.

“I know, but the last time I fell off a roof I ended up breaking my left arm…again, it’s always the left,” he told her. Evie chuckled and noticed it was beginning to rain again.

“Again with the rain in this town,” she said pulling up her hood. London was a beautiful city but she was starting to get sick of the rain. They left the stronghold and walked through Westminster, the streets were busy still with the middle and upper classes enjoying the wet weather. By high noon it was still raining and Evie and Alex were sitting in a gazebo in the park eating cakes from the nearby bakery.

“Rain aside, this has been a good morning, although I don’t really understand all the rich people out in this weather, wouldn’t the rain ruin their expensive coats or something,” Evie said looking at two finely dressed gentlemen chatting on a bench.

“I’ve lived in London longer than you and I can tell you that the upper classes don’t really care about the rain, the class division has created this notion that the poor people who sit in the rain do it because they have no job to go to, whilst the rich who sit in the rain do it because they simply can,” Alex said to her. The rain had brought a mist over Westminster that brought a strange fantastical atmosphere to the park.

“It’s beautiful in a rather strange way,” Evie said, it reminded her of home when the rains would turn the garden into something from a gothic novel, where the trees would look like monsters stretching out their claws and the shadows cast over the family paintings would make them seem sinister and the rain would sound like hands tapping on the glass of the windows. It was a strange feeling to have but it gave her comfort. She looked at Alex who was leaning against a pillar on the gazebo and felt a strong butterfly feeling within her, perhaps Jacob was right all along and she was developing feelings for Alex. But then she remembered her father’s words. ‘Never let feelings compromise the mission’ he would tell them both. She felt trapped between two worlds, trapped between the Shroud of Eden and something else entirely. She got up and stood beside Alex, she wondered what to say, what to feel, what to do. She wanted something to happen, something to change the moment, but she was hesitant to do it herself.

“Alex can I…can I ask you something?” she asked looking at him.

“Of course Evie, what is it?” Alex replied looking back her. She opened her mouth to speak but there were no words, she had nothing to say. Instead she pulled him to a kiss as the rain intensified, the feel of his lips against her, his hair tangled up in her fingers. When she stopped kissing him, he seemed a bit dazed by the whole thing before he finally said:

“That wasn’t a question,” Evie started laughing.

“I should have rephrased it better, but that felt good,” she said to him.

“Yes, it was really good,” he said. She kissed him again as he pulled her to him and she felt the world and the Shroud disappear from her mind.


	9. Crawford’s Next Move

In his office Crawford Starrick was sipping on his tea watching the rain fall over his city. He had worked hard to secure London, but the twins were ruining everything from the Free Press Association taking over communication and Starrick’s Soothing Syrup being discontinued after the distillery blew up, he was losing the grip on his city and he would be damned if he lost it to Jacob Frye.

“I have searched that Cathedral up and down and there is nothing there about the Shroud, absolutely nothing, that bitch lied to me,” Lucy cried storming into the office ruining Crawford’s quiet time. He turned around to see her angrily staring at the board of clues

“Oh dear Lucy do calm down, you’ll get wrinkles if you keep frowning,” Crawford said to her.

“She lied Crawford, I bet she knows where the Shroud is and she’s leading us on a false trail, I bet that boyfriend of hers knows something as well and I’ll be damned if that Jock gets in my way of finding the doorway to Yharnam,” she said to Crawford purposely ignoring his wrinkle comment. Crawford, however, didn’t really care about Alex or Yharnam, he just wanted to keep control of London.

“What we need is to split Evie from Alexander and Jacob from his Rooks and I think I have an idea on how we can do that,” Crawford said.

“What kind of idea?” Lucy asked intrigued.

“In two weeks, the Queen will be holding the annual masquerade ball, the richest and most important people will be attending,” Crawford said.

“You plan to kill the Frye twins with a masquerade ball?” Lucy asked confused by his motive.

“No, I plan to make sure that Mr Bell gets an invitation to the ball and will have to attend at the Queen’s request, when he is there, I will lure him away into the west wing and have two Templars kidnap him and take him back here, with a palace that big and a ball so extravagant, no one will notice if a Scotsman goes missing now will they, and if Miss Frye found out he was being held by the Templars, she’d take drastic measures to get him back,” Crawford said to Lucy with a sinister smile.

“Interesting Crawford, with him out of the way, we can eliminate the Frye twins and take the Shroud, that’s if they find the next clue in the cathedral, I know something is there, but how can you eliminate the Frye boy, he’s nearly taken half of London,” she said.

“I plan to lure Jacob to a stronghold, isolate him from his Rooks and kill him with my own bare hands, it would be a privilege to have his blood on my hands,” Crawford explained. He’d had enough of Jacob taking his city out from under him.

 

In his own lab Charles Darwin was still studying the giant rat found the sewers of London, he had written extensive notes, put a lot of the anatomy in jars and drawn several diagrams of the rat. He had requested Jacob meet with him to discuss his findings on the rat.

“Extraordinary, just extraordinary,” he muttered to himself.

“Mr Darwin sir, it’s Jacob,” Jacob called from outside the door.

“Yes come in boy, I have news on our findings,” Darwin called back. Jacob entered the lab and jumped in fright at all the dead animals staring back at him.

“Why did you stuff the animals?” he asked as a stuffed cat stared at him with wide eyes.

“For research dear boy, now come here, I discovered something extraordinary about our Rattus, Rattus here, it seems he was carrying a disease, some kind of plague which must have caused the corruption in its body, but here is the interesting thing Mr Frye, it’s nothing like the black plague, no this is a plague of the blood,” Darwin said to Jacob.

“Plague of the blood, how does that even work?” Jacob asked confused.

“I have no idea, it’s fascinating but the blood had these tiny little black specs in them when examined up close, I did some experimentation with a common black rat I ordered one of those urchins to get, I took the blood from the giant rat and injected it into the little black rat and look,” Darwin said lifting a white sheet that was covering a glass box. Jacob looked to see the black rat crazed and hissing at them, its eyes wild and black, its teeth sharpened and its fur mattered and malting.

“It’s disgusting,” Jacob said getting a closer look at the rat.

“Oh that’s nothing I found the same plague in this corpse I found,” Darwin said then revealing the man Jacob had killed with Charlie.

“Why do you have a dead body in your lab?” Jacob asked now finding Darwin’s eccentricity to be rather creepy than fascinating.

“I found him in Lambeth I was looking for your sister when there he was lying in the grass dead as a doornail, he was still quite fresh and so I threw him in my carriage and brought him back,” Darwin explained like it was perfectly reasonable to steal dead bodies.

“And you didn’t think a dead body behind Alexander Graham Bell’s lab was strange,” Jacob said trying to see if they were on the same page.

“Not at all, in fact it reminded me of those Burke and Hare murders, very interesting chaps,” Darwin said looking through a book of his notes. Jacob looked at the corpse, he had been dissected and sewn up just like the rat.

“So what else did your research find?” he asked, he was sure the man had a point somewhere.

“Ah yes, well if the giant rat was found in the sewers and this man was found in Lambeth miles away from the rat, then there could be a connection, this plague is not recorded in any textbook, it could be something entirely new, or something not of this world Mr Frye,” Darwin explained to Jacob. The man was crazy, he had to be, Jacob thought to himself. He was practically dancing around his lab at the discovery but none of it made sense.

“Mr Darwin sir, could you please explain what you’re talking about,” Jacob asked.

“I have heard rumours, rumours that very well break the laws of science that we know, assassin rumours as well. Much like the freemasons believe in the new world order and the assassin’s believe in Eden, so are there assassin’s that believe in…the other realm,” Darwin said.

“The other realm?”

“Parallel to our world, trapped in a realm of space that can only be accessed by a specific doorway, the universe is full of many possibilities Mr Frye, but if I am correct in my theorising, this man and this rat came from somewhere that is not our world,” Darwin explained to Jacob. Now he was crazy, Jacob thought.

“An interesting theory, but let’s leave it as a theory Mr Darwin, I have places to go, but this was an interesting insight into the rat,” he said leaving the lab. Darwin watched him leave and went back to the corpse.

“Where are you from good sir?” Darwin asked the corpse, curious as to how this man ended up dead in Lambeth.

Jacob left the lab and the thought of the giant rat. He didn’t know if Darwin was crazy or had a point about the rat and the corpse, but it left him with questions. Questions about the assassin’s, and that blood shard they’d found in the Kenway Vault. He headed back to the train, Henry had to have some answers.

When he returned to the train Henry was reading Vanity Fair.

“Are you ever without a book?” Jacob asked Henry.

“Are you ever without an attitude?” Henry asked back.

“You’re funny Greenie, but I need to ask you a question about something Darwin said to me, he said that there are assassins that believe in something called the other realm,” Jacob said to him. Henry looked up from his book suddenly.

“What do you know?” he asked suspiciously.

“Nothing, Mr Darwin just said that there are assassins that believe in the other realm and that the rat I found and the supposed walking corpse might be from another realm, I think he’s crazy,” Jacob told Henry as he skinned through one of the books on the table.

“Walking corpse?”

“Oh didn’t I mention, Charlie and I found this person in Lambeth carrying a saw, he tried to kill us and he looked quite inhuman to say the least but somehow after we killed him Darwin got a hold of his corpse and came to this conclusion that he’s not from this world or some kind of nonsense,” Jacob explained. Henry knew this was certainly suspicious and that Evie and Alex would need to investigate this, especially if this person was from Yharnam.


	10. The Yharnam Aqueducts

Yharnam’s Night of the Hunt was over two weeks away and Alex still had no way to get to the Cathedral Ward. The Cleric Beast still guarded the bridge and he was too afraid to face the aqueducts. Hunters had died fighting the beast and Eileen even warned him of trying to face it, but he did not know what to do. He sat on the top of the building near the Central Yharnam lantern pondering his next move in this place.

“Perhaps the aqueducts do lead somewhere,” he said to himself. But the aqueducts were frightening and dark and he didn’t want to venture in alone. Would Evie be willing to come was his question, if she would then he wouldn’t feel so afraid. He saw Evie appear at the lantern.

“Hunter’s Dream is nice, even if that doll scares the living hell out of me,” she said walking over to him. Gehrman had granted Evie access to Hunter’s Dream due to her association with Alex, he could see strength in her, not Hunter’s strength, but the strength of the Assassin’s, a strength he had long forgotten.

“There are worse things to be afraid of Evie, but I was thinking about our next lead to the ward and I thought maybe we could try checking out the aqueducts,” he replied.

“Sounds easy enough,” Evie agreed instantly. Alex gave her a puzzling look and stood up.

“Really, you’d face those dark, water-filled, tunnels that could be hiding walking corpses?” he asked unsure of her motivation. Evie simply smiled at him and kissed him.

“I can when you’re with me,” she said. It was comforting words to Alex, and they set off for the aqueducts which was past the fountain plaza. It was dark and the townsfolk were nowhere to be found but the aqueducts lay before them. Alex looked down the ladder to the water below and it was there where he saw three giant rats.

“Evie I don’t want to scare you, but there are giant rats down there,” he warned her. Evie grabbed Alex’s hand, a shiver racing down her spine as she remembered the one Jacob showed her.

“I hate rats,” she whispered afraid to move.

“I’ll go first, see if there’s anything to look out for,” Alex said going down the ladder first. Evie watched as he descended into the aqueducts, she didn’t know if it was her or if Yharnam had gotten scarier since the last time she was there. “All clear,” he called up to her. Relieved, Evie smiled and climbed down into the aqueducts. They walked along the makeshift wooden bridges and saw what appeared to be a wolf-man carrying a torch and axe.

“What is that?” Evie whispered to Alex.

“A beast, this is what happens if you get the plague in your blood, you become that,” he replied. She didn’t know what to make of the beast, but then it turned around. Quickly she threw a knife which caused it to get angry and shriek at them. She then watched as Alex ran at the beast and slam the axe against its neck killing it instantly. “Let’s keep moving,” he said.

They moved further down into the aqueducts, it was getting darker, and danker. Alex knew there was something beyond the aqueducts he just didn’t know what. They then came down to the water level where they avoided the rats and came across another beast. Alex killed it quickly and then found a corpse wearing the same hunter armour he was.

“Poor bastard,” he muttered. They dropped down to the next level where they saw piles of bodies in the water.

“That’s disgusting,” Evie said covering her mouth and nose with her hand. She wished she had stolen the scarf off that dead hunter so she wouldn’t have to smell the wet decaying bodies. Alex observed the area and saw a ladder leading from the water to another level that they could get to.

“That way, I’m sure of it,” he told her. He jumped down into the water and Evie followed, but then waters began to stir as the corpses began to reanimate. “Since when did corpses come back to life?” Alex asked as he quickly climbed up the ladder. Evie grabbed the wooden beams holding up the platform and climbed up, when one of the corpses grabbed her foot.

“Get off me!” she cried kicking it in the face, the corpse’s head caved in from the kick and it fell back into the water disturbing the water some more. More of the corpses began moving towards the platform arms stretched out and groaning wearily. Evie watched as they clamoured over each other.

“Add that to the list of things I hate, Lucy Thorne, giant rats, and corpses,” she said to Alex.

“Let’s not stay here too long then, or they’ll start climbing up,” he warned her. They climbed up a ladder which led to a small area with houses and Crows outside. “Oh good more of these things,” Alex said swinging the axe at the birds, they began to screech at them and Evie took one out with her Kukri Blade.

“And I thought the ones back home were bad, these are almost as bad as the giant rats,” she commented as the birds lay dead on the ground.

“Pretty much but I think- wait what’s that,” he said noticing something on the ground. He picked it up to see it was a skull but the head was open and there was a strange light within it.

“What is it?” Evie asked hypnotised by the strange cosmic light from inside the skull.

“I don’t know, I bet Gehrman will know, come on this way,” Alex said pocketing the skull and climbing up the nearby ladder leading to the upper level of Central Yharnam. At the top of the ladder was a gate that lead to the fountain plaza and a house with burning incense outside. A child then appeared at the window.

“You, I recognise that scent, you’re a hunter aren’t you, but you…I don’t recognise your scent,” she said to them.

“I’m an assassin,” Evie said to the child.

“I don’t know no assassin’s, mum said only hunters came to Yharnam and I don’t know where my mum is, she went to find dad after he left for the hunt but he didn’t come back, could you help me find them, my mum wears this big red brooch and my dad can be found with this music box,” the little girl said opening the window, she passed to Evie a small box.

“Are you alone?” she asked the girl.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be safe inside with my sister, but please help me find my mum and dad,” the girl replied.

“What are the names of your parents, it might make it easier for us to find them,” Alex said.

“My mum’s name is Viola and my dad is Gascoigne, I hope it helps,” the girl said and closed the window. They returned to the fountain plaza where there were three townsfolk wandering about with a mangy dog having another conversation about the missing townsperson.

“He still hasn’t returned.”

“It’s been over a week now, perhaps we should venture out to Old Yharnam and look for him.”

“He could be dead Hank, and there is no way we can get to Old Yharnam without getting caught by the Cleric Beast on the bridge, the only other way out of this city is through the sewer.”

“Well then, I guess Trent’s as good as dead then, if we can’t get to him.”

They walked away leaving Alex and Evie wondering about the missing townsperson.

“I still don’t understand how a person just vanishes in Old Yharnam, no one’s found him?” Evie asked.

“The Hunters that are scouting Old Yharnam have searched for this Trent, but no one has found him, sometimes people just vanish,” Alex replied as dawn approached. Yharnam still felt creepy even with the gloomy morning sunshine, but it didn’t feel as threatening. The screech of the Cleric Beast in the morning air signalled it’s returning to its hiding place on the other side of the bridge. It was time to return to London and continue the search for the Shroud.


	11. Fire

When they returned to London, dawn was still an hour away, and it was raining again.

“Have you noticed how much it’s rained this year alone?” Evie asked Alex as they went into his lab.

“It didn’t rain throughout March or April, perhaps the weather is making up for the dry season,” Alex replied laying his axe on the table. Shayde, who was sitting on the work bench messing about with some coins, looked up and stretched out its arms to Alex.

“Shayde’s grown attached to you, it’s kind of adorable,” Evie commented as Alex wrote something down on a piece of paper.

“The little guy is cute, Shayde, I need you to deliver this message to Gehrman, it’s about the missing townsperson Trent and the Hunter known as Gascoigne, also take this skull we found to him, think you could handle it,” he said to Shayde, the little messenger took the message and skull, did a sort of Yharnam version of a salute which consisted swinging its arm around its head and punching the air and disappeared. The salute surprised Alex and wondered if it was just Shayde or if everyone in Yharnam and Hunter’s Dream saluted that way. He turned to Evie who was looking out the window of the lab. He went to stand beside her, the street was empty and the rain was hammering down.

“You know it reminds me of our kiss in Westminster, the rain, I didn’t want that moment to end,” Evie told him.

“I know what you mean,” Alex replied wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her to him, “I wouldn’t change a thing.” Evie smiled and kissed him, breathing him in, but she wanted more than just a kiss she wanted all of him. She pushed the Hunter hat off his head and it dropped to the floor and ran her fingers through his hair.

“Let’s move this upstairs,” she muttered against his lips guiding him backwards towards the stairs.

They went upstairs to Alex’s bedroom, when the door was shut Evie pounced on him like a hungry animal, pushing him backwards onto his bed. She wanted him, craved him, his touch. Clothes began to scatter the room and Evie pulled her hair pins out her hair letting it fall over her shoulders, Alex had never seen her hair down, it made her look ethereal to him.

“You’re…you’re beautiful,” he whispered staring up at her. She smiled and tucked her hair behind her hear and leaned down to kiss him. Embracing her, Alex began to line her neck with kisses, pulling her close. Evie sighed with content, feeling herself relax into him. She could feel her body yearn for him as she kissed him passionately feeling the heat flow between them.

“Fuck me,” she whispered to him. He stopped kissing her and rolled over she was on her back and he on top of her. Her left hand gripped the metal bed and her right hand dug into the sheets as her body moved in sync with his. Short breaths of air escaped her lips as she gripped the post tighter, her breathing became short sharp hits with each thrust and she could feel that climatic point climbing higher and higher within. When it hit her, her hips bucked against Alex as she let out a moan became shallow and slow as she felt the comedown of the climax leaving her body rushing. Alex’s breathing slowed as warmth spread over the both of them and his climax slowed. He kissed her softly feeling his heart beat furiously through his chest.

“Wow,” was all Evie said as he laid down beside her the sheets covering them both.

“I know,” he agreed. The rain had stopped and the sun shone through the windows as it rose above the Thames, Evie felt content and happy. The Shroud far from her mind, she couldn’t remember the last time she was this relaxed. She looked at her coat on the floor beside the bed and saw the Assassin book tucked inside it, she leaned over and opened it up looking over a picture of the medallion she had found in the Kenway Vault.

“Back to work already?” Alex asked curious to see what she was reading about.

“Just looking over that medallion, if Gilbert’s key led to the Cathedral where does the medallion lead,” she replied turning the page, she then looked at the page saw an image of the monument to the great fire of London, she sat up and studied the page some more.

“Found something?”

“The medallion leads to the monument…so why did the Asylum point to the Cathedral?” Evie asked.

“I could ask Gilbert for you, he did say he was brought to the Asylum, but he had managed to wander around London perhaps he found something,” Alex suggested.

“It would help us in the search, I’ll go to the monument and find out if it leads to the Cathedral, perhaps if it does we can find out why the Asylum lead the same way,” Evie said. Alex gazed at her as she spoke enthusiastically about finding the Shroud and then kissed her.

“It’s sweet how enthusiastic you get about the guild,” he said to her. Evie chuckled at that and kissed him back.

As soon as they were dressed, Alex left for Yharnam and Evie left the lab. The monument was in the City of London and it was going to take an hour to get there without the train. She began to climb over the rooftops, using the rope launcher when she could get a good aim for a long distance, a transporter would have been easier, she thought to herself as she crossed into Southwark.

It was another forty minutes before she finally reached the monument and saw it surrounded by people and police.

“Crap,” she muttered, the lock for the medallion was under the platform that had been constructed, she was going to need a distraction to get under there. She saw two Blighters loitering nearby and saw her way in, she slowly made her way to them careful to make sure both they and the police were in her line of sight. The Blighters spotted her and began to hurl their abuse.

“I ought to come over there and teach you a lesson,” one of them shouted. Evie smirked and gestured for them to come over as she moved so she was standing next to a policeman. The Blighter ran at her and threw a right hook, she dodged it and they hit the policeman. Angry the policeman began to hit the Blighter with his baton causing several people in the crowd to panic, allowing Evie to slip under the platform without being seen. She walked up to the plaque on the wall and inserted the medallion. Up on the top of the monument the top began to turn and another puzzle piece was revealed.

“Interesting,” she muttered heading around to the back of the monument and scaling up it with the rope launcher, she was glad Alex had managed to get them to work with their gauntlets. She reached the top and saw a small round medallion much like the Kenway one and saw the Cathedral in the distance. She gave it a thoughtful gaze, there was definitely something in the Cathedral.

From the top of the Cathedral she aimed the rope launcher and flew across the city in relatively short time, at the bottom of the tower she looked up. It was a long way up to the dome.

“The things I do,” Evie muttered aiming the rope launcher. She scaled the Cathedral walls, catching the attention of the people below who watched her in wonder. When she reached the top she saw Alex waiting for her. “How did…how?” was all she could say.

“The transporter might not have central points, it sort of brought me here from Yharnam, but I figured out why the writing was on the wall of Gilbert’s cell even if he didn’t have much to say,” he explained to her.

“So what happened?” Evie asked.

“When Gilbert arrived in London, he sort of climbed up to the dome in a plague-infected rage, and he found the key to the vault that holds the Shroud,”

“He found it!”

“But he didn’t take it, he knew it was there but then the police came and took him to the Asylum, before they chained him up he managed to write it on the ceiling so that he would be able to remember, but when Gehrman sent a huntsman to collect him, he couldn’t retrieve the key and thus it was left in the altar of Saint Paul,” Alex explained. Evie looked up at the dome of the Cathedral.

“Of course, the altar, the dome is like an altar, that doesn’t make any sense,” Evie said realising what Gilbert meant which sounded nonsensical.

“What did you find at the monument?” Alex asked.

“I found this at the top, I think it might fit into something, like puzzle box,” she replied. Alex looked at the statue of Saint Paul on the edge of the Cathedral and looked at the plaque which had a piece missing from it.

“What about the base of the statue, it looked like it opens up,” he said. Evie crouched to put the piece in, the pieces began to turn and show the picture of Saint Paul and opened up to reveal a mechanism.

“A puzzle, I’m not good at puzzles,” she said realising it was a puzzle. Alex looked at the mechanism, it was a simple case of lining up the cogs, simple engineering.

“I think I can do it, I used a similar mechanism when I was designing an automaton in my younger years, the cogs it seems have little symbols on them, you just match them up and they should start moving in sync,” he said rotating the cogs so that all the symbols matched up. As soon as it started moving correctly, they heard something open at the top of the dome. “I think we’ve found our key,” he said.

They climbed up the dome, an arduous task that was tricky for Alex, as his gloves couldn’t hold onto the small edges in the Cathedral dome. When they finally found the door, they walked inside to see the vault key sitting on a stone tablet.

“The altar of Saint Paul,” Evie said seeing it there, she was so close to the Shroud, now she just needed to find the vault.

“Well done Miss Frye and you too Mr Bell, I never realised you were both so clever together,” came the voice of Lucy Thorne. Evie turned to glare at the Templar, she’d followed them to the Cathedral. “I knew there was something here, I just didn’t know what, but I see now that your little Yharnam friend, what was his name, Gilbert had a hand in helping you find the key, and what is that on your wrist, a transporter,” Lucy noted the transporter on Alex’s wrist.

“How do you know what it is?” he demanded.

“Crawford found Gehrman’s old living space and found the designs for the transporter, who would have thought a four hundred year old man was so ahead of his time, but sadly for you two, it ends here, I will take that key, get the Shroud and find Yharnam,” Lucy said.

“What is your obsession with Yharnam, it’s a dangerous place, it’s inhumane, it’s filled with monsters,” Evie cried, she found Yharnam a living nightmare but Lucy was obsessed with it. Lucy simply laughed and revealed around her neck a small pendant in the shape of a saw.

“A Sword Hunter’s badge, crafted by the Healing Church, why do you have one of those?” Alex asked.

“You know that Gehrman was an assassin that found Yharnam, well there was a Templar too, Ludwig, he found the entrance to Yharnam not long after Gehrman did in fact he himself was a Hunter, the first Hunter of the Healing Church. Impressive isn’t it, Gehrman was just obsessed with hunting the beasts but Ludwig was called to a higher purpose, a purpose I want to bring to London, oh Crawford can have his precious Shroud, but I have a greater purpose, one that involves the Great Ones and bringing the Healing Church to London,” Lucy explained.

“You’re mad is what you are,” Alex said.

“Give me the key,” Lucy cried lunging towards it, Evie tackled her knocking her over and Alex grabbed the key. “No,” Lucy shouted kicking Evie backwards against the wall, standing up and grabbing Alex’s arm.

“You’ll never find the doorway to Yharnam,” he said to her gripping the key.

“Why would I need the doorway, when I have the key right here,” Lucy said punching him hard in the face and yanking the transporter off his wrist. She kicked Alex backwards as he dropped the key and he fell to the ground. Lucy picked up the key, smashed a window and jumped out. Alex and Evie gathered their senses and saw Lucy was gone.

“She’s got the key,” Evie said.

“She’s got my transporter, Evie, without that I can’t go to Yharnam, and I can only get to Hunters Dream through the lanterns, if she goes to Yharnam, she’ll either be killed by the townsfolk or she’ll unleash hell,” Alex said. They had reached an impasse, Lucy had got the better of them.

“Let’s go find the train,” Evie said in a low voice, she felt like a failure, she let Lucy get the key and she let her take Alex’s transporter, now he couldn’t protect Yharnam from the beasts.


	12. Revelations

The journey back to the train was a quiet one, when the train pulled up at the station Agnes was quick to notice Evie’s melancholy look. Evie didn’t know how to comprehend what had happened, the morning had been one of passion and romance with Alex and now she felt the Shroud slipping from her grasp. In Henry’s carriage, he was reading a copy of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.

“What happened?” Henry asked not looking up from his book.

“Lucy got the key from us, and she took Alex’s transporter,” Evie told Henry.

“I can’t go back to Yharnam without and we now know why she’s obsessed with the place, she had a Hunters Badge and said that a Templar named Ludwig who became the first Hunter of the Healing Church also found the entrance to Yharnam and she wants to bring the Healing Church to London,” Alex explained. Henry looked up from the book and snapped it shut.

“Ludwig?” he said curiously.

“You know that name?” Evie asked.

“Know it, Ludwig was the Templar who helped order the execution of Ezio’s family, he must have chased down Gehrman after it happened, the guild probably erased Gehrman from their history to eliminate the possibility of the Templars finding Yharnam,” Henry said, the name Ludwig was famous amongst the Templars, they never hid his history like the guild did with Gehrman, instead they embraced his discovery of Yharnam and sought ways to find the doorway to Yharnam. “But the doorway was sealed by Gehrman after Ludwig found the way in. If the Templars knew about the doorway, Yharnam and the Piece of Eden hidden there would have been conquered by them and the assassin’s would have fallen.” Henry explained.

“So when Gehrman sealed the doorway to stop Ludwig from coming back, the guild must have hidden the location of the doorway too, Ludwig and the guild were the only ones who knew, the rest of the Templars didn’t,” Evie said seeing the puzzle pieces fit together, slowly Yharnam was beginning to make more sense to her.

“It seems so, but if Lucy is closer to the Shroud and has your transporter, she’s closer to finding the doorway to Yharnam,” Henry said standing up and putting the book away, Jane Austen had to wait.

“Eileen said that Edward Kenway was the last assassin to go to Yharnam, she said he was looking for someone, if he knew about the doorway he must have hidden clues all over London,” Alex said.

“That explains the bloodstone shard and why he had the note, when he saw that Gehrman had been erased from history he must have gone looking for him, but what even is this doorway,” Evie said, she still couldn’t understand how the doorway connected Yharnam and London.

“I wish I knew, I was unconscious when the huntsman took me to Yharnam, but it is in the sewers somewhere, if this doorway is centuries old the guild must have created new ways to hide it whenever the city began to change, but Eileen said the doorway is breaking down and if it is then we risk creatures coming into London,” Alex replied.

“Or perhaps people,” Henry added. Alex and Evie gave him a confused look.

“The other day Jacob came in here saying that he and that boyfriend of his killed a crazy man in Lambeth, and Darwin took his body, Jacob didn’t explain much, but what if that man was from Yharnam,” Henry suggested. Alex thought back to the conversations the townsfolk were having, if this Trent had gone missing, he could have found Yharnam’s side of the doorway.

“We need to find Darwin,” Evie said.

Darwin wasn’t that hard to find as he was found amongst the flower beds a park in Whitechapel studying insects. Henry decided to come with them to see if the man Jacob killed was in fact from Yharnam.

“Mr Darwin we need to speak with you,” Henry said to the scientist who was lying in the flowers studying a small fuzzy caterpillar with a magnifying glass.

“Look at how fuzzy it is, what purpose does the fuzz serve?” Darwin said ignoring Henry’s question. Irritated, Henry resisted the urge to squash the caterpillar with his boot and instead gritted his teeth. “You’re here about the corpse aren’t you,” Darwin said.

“How did you know?” Evie asked suspiciously.

“I can only assume that Jacob spoke to you on the matter,” Darwin replied.

“He did, he mentioned killing someone in Lambeth and you finding the body,” Henry said as the old man jumped up like a sprightly deer.

“Yes and it was fascinating, the blood was fascinating, the rat, you should come to my lab, I did some experiments on a common black rat I caught and you will amazed at what this blood does,” Darwin said sprinting off towards the park gates. Evie and Henry were confused by the sheer optimism Darwin had regarding this corpse and Alex wondered if Darwin had taken some of the corpse’s blood for himself and had gone mad.

Inside the lab Darwin showed them the rats and the corpse. Alex studied the little rat which was hissing at him from behind the glass.

“Isn’t it extraordinary, the blood I took from the giant rat corrupted the blood of this little one, but my research has led me to believe it’s a blood plague, one that corrupts blood,” Darwin explained.

“Yharnam’s people are suffering from this plague, some are mild but the ones that aren’t are fully beasts, what is it about the blood that turns them into beasts?” Alex asked.

“That is the next question we must find, young man, how did the blood get corrupted?” Darwin said to him. Alex figured the answers would lie in the Cathedral Ward and the Healing Church, but without the transporter he was without a way to get to Yharnam.

“If I had my transporter I could find out by going to the Cathedral Ward, but Lucy Thorne took it from me,” Alex said sadly.

“Forget Yharnam for now Alex, we can return there when we get the Shroud,” Henry said to him, Yharnam might be in danger from Templars but the Shroud was still in danger as well.

Within Hunter’s Dream Gehrman read the letter from Alex asking about Trent and Gascoigne as Shayde sat and waited.

“He has good questions, but it’s a shame that Templar took his transporter, if he can’t return to Yharnam he will have to find the doorway, tell him I will send an executioner to find him in London by the name of Alfred, Hunter of the Vilebloods, he will help them,” Gehrman said to Shayde, who was writing it all down on a parchment. “Alexander is capable, but does he have the skill to defeat the Cleric Beast?”

Gehrman pushed his wheelchair out of the workshop and into the gardens, messengers sat in a birdbath huddled together in a group, the large moon shone overheard lighting up the entire place. Two hunters arrived in the dream and bowed to Gehrman.

“Gehrman sir, we lost another one to the Cleric Beast,” said one.

“This beast is strong young hunters, I have faith that it will be quelled soon enough but I have a task for you too, in Cathedral Ward is a man by the name of Alfred, send him to me,” Gehrman said.

“Yes sir,” both hunters said and returned to Yharnam through the messengers. Gehrman turned to Shayde who had appeared by his chair ready to say goodbye.

“Another thing Shayde, warn me if Templars start appearing around his laboratory, we can’t have a repeat of Ludwig,” he said to the messenger. Shayde saluted Gehrman and disappeared leaving the old Hunter alone in the dream, the moon now had a faint rosy pink tinge to it the Night of the Hunt wasn’t far off.


	13. Scourge Of The Strand

Evening in The Strand and Miss Pearl Attaway was waiting next to a bus that was in flames, she had business to discuss with Jacob Frye regarding his skills for taking care of problems. She watched as he approached her and she smirked, yes he will do nicely, she thought to herself, strong, incredibly handsome and that slash in his eyebrow made him seem dangerous to her, and she simply couldn’t help but admire that swagger he had.

“Mr Frye I presume…you’re younger than I expected,” she said with a slight hint of seduction.

“And you are?” Jacob asked politely.

“Attaway, Miss Pearl Attaway and as you can see here, I need your help regarding my business, someone is attacking my buses and I cannot have that. I pride myself in my transportation business and I would hate to lose out to Millner my bitter rival,” she explained to him.

“And how may I assist you in your endeavour?” Jacob inquired. Pearl smiled and directed him to a bus of hers that had pulled up.

“Why don’t you take the reins and we’ll discuss everything,” she offered walking to her bus and climbing the spiral stairs to the top. Jacob looked up at the bus, it was certainly an interesting sight to behold. He climbed up into the front seat and took a hold of the reins and gently encourage the horses to start moving.

“Now as I was saying Mr Frye, Millner is my rival in the transportation business and I have heard rumours of him buying internal combustion engines, I need to eliminate him and take those engines, if he used them to grow his business it would kill my business instantly, you know they say these engines will be the end of the horse drawn carriage,” Pearl explained to Jacob.

“Really now, and how valuable are these internal combustion engines?” he asked her curious to know if any profit could be made from this venture.

“Extremely Mr Frye,” Pearl said. Jacob smiled as he steered the horses to go around a corner, if they were extremely valuable then his associate Ned Wynert would definitely be interested in this venture, providing it was legitimate.

“So why do you need me now Miss Attaway?” Jacob asked her.

“We need to find Millner’s base of operation and prevent him from destroying any more of my buses,” she told him as they drove down a street towards the Millner transportation quarters. “And it shouldn’t be too far, there I can see the bright sign he made for himself,” she pointed out a large sign that read MILLNER TRANSPORTATION and Jacob pulled up the bus from across the street. It seemed rather shabby for the Strand.

“It doesn’t exactly go with the high class expectation of the Strand now does it?” Jacob said to her getting out of the bus.

“No it doesn’t, some people think it’s ‘quaint’ I think it’s an eyesore upon society, if he really is destroying my buses then there will probably be a cart of bombs, it would be a shame if something were to happen to prevent his business from gaining profit,” Pearl said. Jacob could see what she was trying to suggest and he walked over to the quarters while she watched from the bus. He noticed some of them by the quarters but they barely acknowledged him. This would be piece of cake, Jacob thought.

Suddenly he heard a strange growl, and saw three large Scourge Beasts run towards the men outside the quarters, one leapt at the lead worker and bit into his throat. The other two beasts also began to attack the rest of the work men who were attempting to fight back, but the beasts were too powerful. Jacob ran back to the bus, destroying Millner had to wait.

“Miss Attaway we must leave,” he shouted to her.

“What happened?” she asked him. Suddenly another beast appeared, leaping on top of the bus growling at Pearl, she tried to shriek but fear had her paralysed in the bus as the beast snarled, getting ready to pounce. Suddenly it shrieked in pain as an axe was brought down upon its back, Pearl looked up to see a figure in black clothing, with a scarf hiding their face hacking up the beast. Jacob was stunned by their presence, it was the same person from the sewer who had killed the rat. They leapt off the bus and went after the other three beasts that were tearing up the work men.

“Jacob!” Evie cried from the roof.

“What are you doing here?” Jacob called to her as she leapt down.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him. Jacob could only watch as the person swung the axe and killed the wolves in a single spinning motion. The person then pulled down the scarf.

“Aleck!” Jacob said surprised. Alex wiped the blood off his face and walked over to them, the axe casually swung over his shoulder.

“Scourge Beasts in London, we need to be careful of anything else getting through, Jacob you’re lucky we were here,” Alex said. Jacob was still confused over the whole situation, the strange clothes Alex was wearing, the axe, Evie acting calmly about everything.

“Mr Frye, we’ll have to conclude our business some other time, I’ll be in touch,” Pearl said as she drove her bus away. Jacob watched Pearl drive away with her bus and turned to his sister.

““What the fuck is going on Evie?” he asked her.

“It’s a long story,” she replied. It would be difficult to explain to him what they had been doing the past few weeks.

As Pearl drove away with her bus, she turned down a street to see Crawford Starrick waiting for her.

“What happened I thought Jacob Frye would be driving?” he asked her.

“Large dogs attacked Millner’s quarters and we failed to blow up his carriages, the men were killed though, I can always disperse some of your men to destroy the competition, can I give you a ride?” she replied.

“With pleasure, cousin,” Crawford agreed climbing onto the bus. Pearl’s first plan might have failed, but getting the internal combustion engines was the next step in her plan and she knew Jacob would be willing to help her.

On the train Jacob stood looking out the window whilst Evie and Alex stood in silence, waiting for him to say something.

“I find it strange that while I’m working with a potential ally to the Rooks cause, four large dog-like beasts attack me and then you two show up, and you Aleck, Templars after you, always disappearing with Evie, those outrageous clothes, I want the truth now,” he told them calmly. Alex breathed out, this was going to be difficult to explain.

“You remember when I got that note asking to meet me personally and not any of the guild regarding this supposed other Piece of Eden, well when those Templars tried to kill me that night, I was taken by a Hunter to Yharnam, I found myself in Iosefka’s Clinic where I became a Hunter,” Alex explained.

“A Hunter, is that what you call it,” Jacob said not believing it.

“It’s true,” Evie said jumping to Alex’s defence.

“I’m talking to him,” Jacob said angrily.

“Yes, a Hunter, I have the blood of a Hunter in my veins and I hunt beasts, that giant rat you found in the sewers, that came from the Yharnam Aqueducts, those Scourge Beasts that attacked you, Yharnam creatures that stalk the bridge to the Cathedral Ward, and that man you killed, a citizen of Central Yharnam,” Alex told him.

“You expect me to believe this, that this mythical Piece of Eden exists and you were able to travel between worlds,” Jacob said.

“Yes, I could until Lucy Thorne stole the transporter, she’s obsessed with finding the doorway to Yharnam, she has some sick twisted idea to bring the Healing Church ideals to London, replace the Templars with a new high order that worships ancient beings and is obsessed with blood, you can think it nonsense but she’s got the key to the vault that hides the Shroud and when Crawford has that, she can begin her plan of finding Yharnam, she’ll destroy this city if she succeeds, she will bring the plague that curses Yharnam to London and turn everyone into beasts,” Alex said, that Jacob was taking this so lightly and not seriously angered him.

“Right yes, and what does Evie have to do with this?” Jacob asked.

“He confided in me, told me and trusted me to help him, he’s been helping me find the Shroud of Eden and in return I am helping him, I’ve seen Yharnam, I’ve seen what that place is, heard the stories of Hunters being killed by monsters like the Cleric Beast, and right now our mission is to get the Shroud before the Templars and while you’ve been swanning about with your Rooks, I’ve been doing father’s work,” Evie said to her brother. Jacob couldn’t believe any of this, Henry wasn’t saying anything about it, but that Evie had so much faith in Alex made him suspicious.

“And that’s why you’ve been spending so much time together, to find the Shroud, not because he’s in love with you,” Jacob said. Alex resisted the urge to punch Jacob, Evie however slapped her brother hard across the face.

“You hypocrite, you’re sleeping with a Rook and you have the gall to say that my relationship with Alex is the only reason I’m spending time with him,” Evie said, Jacob laughed, he had got her to admit it

“So you are sleeping together,” he said in a ‘got you’ tone.

“That has nothing to do with it Jacob, I saved your sorry ass from that giant rat, I saved you from those four beasts, you would have been killed if I hadn’t been there, but know this, right now the ownership of London is not important, right now the only thing that’s important is stopping the Templars from getting the Shroud and finding the doorway, you can’t even comprehend the situation because you’ve not been here,” Alex shouted at him.

“Enough!” Henry shouted slamming a book on the table. “Enough, your arguing is going around in circles, and right now Lucy has the key to the vault and Alex’s transporter, without that Alex cannot find out about the Yharnam Piece of Eden and we cannot find the Shroud, so I suggest the three of you pack it in now because right now the Templars are ahead of us.”

“Henry’s right, what’s important is we find the vault to the Shroud,” Evie said. Suddenly there was a small light and Shayde appeared on the desk holding a parchment.

“Shayde, what dose Gehrman say?” Alex said taking the message from the creature.

“Gehrman, that assassin mentioned in Kenway’s note we found?” Jacob asked.

“Yes, turns out he’s a four hundred year old Hunter and he knows that the Piece of Eden is being protected by the Healing Church, what we need to find out is what piece it is and why it’s being protected,” Alex said reading the note.

“What does Gehrman say Alexander?” Henry asked him.

“He says that he’ll be sending an executioner by the name of Alfred, Hunter of the Vilebloods, as we cannot go to Yharnam, he should be able to give us insight into the Healing Church and…Byrgenwerth,” he replied reading the letter.

“Byrgenwerth, why does that sound familiar,” Henry said, his knowledge of Yharnam was scarce due to the guild’s destroying any information on Yharnam, but somehow he recognised that name.

“He might not be able to take us to Yharnam, but he’ll give us what he knows, Jacob, we’ll need you to continue your business with this Miss Attaway you were doing business with, the Templars cannot know you’re part of this too,” Evie said.

“Oh so after the revelations and the truth, I cannot be part of this, just great,” Jacob said throwing his arms in the air dramatically.

“You are part of this you idiot, but the Templars don’t know that, and we need to keep it that way, keep taking out Crawford’s hold on London and keep him occupied on city territory for as long as you can,” Evie told him. It was good enough for Jacob, while he was angry at Evie and Alex for keeping this information from him, he knew they must have had a good reason, no matter how implausible he found it.


	14. A Warning From Gehrman

Lucy smiled holding her prize in her hands. The key to the vault that holds the Shroud, now her only question was where the vault lay. She had been searching London for four days since she got the key but the searches were coming up empty.

“I have it Crawford, we have it, we’re so close I can feel the silk,” Lucy said as she looked at the board in Crawford’s office.

“Yes, so close, but where is the Shroud?” Crawford asked as he read a correspondent from Pearl regarding Millner.

“The people I’ve sent out to scout the city are giving me nothing, but I might have a lead at the Tower of London, I’ve sent some Templars up to disguise themselves as guards to let me get in, but that’s not all Crawford, I also have this,” Lucy replied placing Alex’s transporter on his desk. Crawford examined the device, it wasn’t like anything modern he had seen it seemed ahead of its time.

“What is it?” he asked studying it.

“It is how Alex has been moving between London and Yharnam, this was his key, now that I have it I can journey to Yharnam and find the Healing Church, drink the blood of the Great Ones and bear their child in return for another realm to rule,” Lucy said. She had it all planned, she was going to have the power the Healing Church sought and she was going to rule London with it.

Lucy left Crawford to his devices and took the transporter with her to the Tower of London, it was a long journey but she spent the carriage ride reading the book on Yharnam and the Healing Church. They came to a stop on the bridge due to carriage traffic and Lucy sighed, it was always busy in a Wednesday midday. She looked out the carriage to see a mist rolling in, but it was rolling in faster than she thought. She tried to press the buttons on the transporter but it wasn’t working.

“What’s going on?” she asked curiously as mist seeped into the carriage and began to fill it up with a thick white cloud.

“A thief is what you are Miss Thorne, a no good thief,” said a voice from the mist.

“What is this, who let you into my carriage?” she demanded.

“Carriage, oh you’re not in a carriage Miss Thorne you’re in the Hunter’s Dream, despite not being one, you’re an exception for the time being,” the voice said. Out of the mist rolled Gehrman holding in his hands a Hunter’s Axe. Miss Thorne smiled at the old Hunter.

“Gehrman, so you’re not dead after four hundred years,” she said coyly.

“The Moon Presence is forgiving Miss Thorne, I am here to talk to you about the young Hunter Alexander, you stole something from him,” Gehrman said.

“You mean this piece of worthless junk, it wasn’t that hard to take it off him, he’s weak and you’ll be dead soon enough,” Lucy said she wasn’t going to let this old man get to her. Gehrman laughed and then stretched the axe into a halberd and pointed it at her throat.

“I have a warning for you Lucy Thorne, you might think this all for the greater good, but you’ve no idea the nightmares that Yharnam faces, the beasts that stalk the streets, the Great Ones and their power. You’re nothing but a child in this Lucy, a stupid child who think’s trying to play God will win her a city and the title of Queen, you know of Queen Yharnam and Mergo yes, you want to replicate her but do it ‘right’ you think dealing with the Great Ones will be beneficial to you but you’re too blind by your own quest for power, just like the Healing Church and the Clerics and look at them now, cursed, beasts, inhuman,” Gehrman said.

“You don’t frighten me old man,” Lucy said defensively.

“Oh but I do, that tone in your voice, your shiver, you’re afraid it will go wrong, if you do get it wrong, you will die, this is your warning Lucy, if you seek the Great Ones, you will die,” Gehrman said rolling back into the mist.

The mist began to face and Lucy found herself back in the carriage. She looked out to see they were outside the Tower of London, the whole ordeal had her confused, scared, and angry.

“If that old corpse thinks he can scare me into forgetting Yharnam and the Great Ones he is wrong, driver, wait for me while I go inside with the rest of our men,” she said getting out of the carriage. She walked into the tower followed by several guards and several guards dressed as Templars. It was going to be easy to get in and look for the vault, if it even was there, if not then she could always try sweeping the city again.

Up on the other side of the tower Evie sat watching the guards. She had gone alone to get the key back saying it was her fault they failed. Alex wanted to come but she had told him not to, instead to focus on helping Jacob with the suspicious Miss Pearl Attaway. She knew Lucy would be holding onto the key to the vault and would be sweeping the tower, she just needed to figure out where she would be waiting and how to get the key.

“If she’s wearing the key I can always kill her for it,” Evie whispered to herself as she used the rope launcher to zip line down to the main part of the tower. She looked through the windows to see twelve Templars, the Blighters were probably all on the bottom floor keeping an eye out for anyone who could discover their intentions. She spied an open window and leapt through it, knocking out a Templar disguised as a tower guard.

“Where are you Lucy?” she muttered as she rounded the corner to see two more Templar guards. It made sense they were around every corner protecting Lucy from any interference, she was going to have to take everyone out in order to get that key back.

She took out the two Templar guards and walked down the hall, there were still several Templars left before Lucy. She spied another walking down toward her so she hid behind a curtain and whistled to catch his attention. Puzzled, the Templar approached the curtain wondering where the sound was coming from and Evie grabbed him, stabbing him in the neck and hiding him behind the curtain. As she approached a door after knocking out three more guards she could hear Lucy behind it.

“I want it found, if the vault is not here we burn the place,” she said. Evie listened carefully, there were two more Templars in there she would need to find a way in. She spied a window and opened it and carefully climbed around the wall into the window of the room Lucy was in. Opening the top just slightly, she took two of her throwing knives and hit both the Templars they dropped to the floor and Lucy turned to see the assassin kicking the window in.

“You won’t get the Shroud,” Evie said confidently, she knew exactly how to get the transporter and the key at the same time.

“Well you should know it’s not here since you followed me, but I’ll always be a step ahead of you, no matter what that old man says,” Lucy told Evie.

“And what of this old man Lucy, does Crawford not think you’re going mad?” Evie asked mockingly angering the Templar. Lucy grabbed Evie’s arm to restrain her.

“Crawford is only after his precious Shroud, and when I have it, he will allow me to take Yharnam,” Lucy said in a low voice. Evie smiled at the Templar.

“Oh you stupid woman, how can you take Yharnam, if you don’t have a way there,” she said kicking Lucy in the stomach, shocked she let go and fell backwards and Evie grabbed the arm that held the transporter. “This might hurt a little,” Evie said with a smile before breaking the bones in Lucy’s arm. Lucy cried out as Evie grabbed the transporter off her arm and ripped the key from her throat. She went to the window and used the rope launcher to escape leaving Lucy with a broken arm and no key to the vault.

“GUARDS!” Lucy screeched in a high pitch tone, alerting three Templars to her. “Find Evie Frye, she took the key,” she shouted to them.

Evie was long gone by the time the guards left the tower to find her. She took the boat back to Southwark where Agnes and the train were waiting. Inside Henry was reading George Eliot’s novel Silas Marner in his chair and Alex was sharpening the blade on his axe. They saw Evie enter and noticed the hop in her step and the grin on her face.

“It went well I assume,” Henry said. She nodded and threw him the vault key.

“You hold on it Henry, she won’t try and take it from you, as for you Aleck, I broke her arm getting this back for you,” Evie said giving Alex his transporter.

“Oh you angel Evie,” he said kissing her with happiness.

“I do my best,” she replied returning the kiss.

“Please stop,” Henry said examining the key, he would need to replace the fastener on the back but it would still be secure with him. “Now that we have the key, we can focus on finding the vault, I have sources that it’s somewhere in Westminster, so far the locations I have narrowed it down to are Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, we’ll need to start early tomorrow if we want to get ahead of the Starrick and the Templars,” Henry told them.

“A good idea, let’s go Aleck, you can stay here with me tonight,” Evie said hopping over to her carriage. Alex followed her but not before turning back to Henry who simply waved his hand.

“Go, I’m deeply engrossed in the writings of Ms. Eliot,” he told Alex.


	15. The Cleric Beast

Dawn, and the train was quietly chugging along through the City of London. The town was peaceful on this morning, Henry sat sleeping in his chair his open book in his lap. Jacob was sleeping on the sofa next to the safe, Charlie on the floor of the train holding onto Jacob’s hand. They had arrived to the train late in the night after attending a fight club, Robert Topping had placed good money on their fights and won the night out. In Evie’s carriage she and Alex were in her bed sleeping, he awoke and saw Evie lying on his chest sleeping silently. The morning felt perfect, he’d got the transporter back and the Shroud was so close to discovery. He looked over to the table and saw Shayde appear holding a message from Alfred. He leaned over, careful not to disturb Evie and took the letter, he opened it up and read it.

_Alex_

_After our meeting in London, I did some research into Ludwig and Byrgenwerth that should be of use to you, let us meet in Cathedral Ward in Oedon Chapel where we can discuss this further._

_May the good blood guide you, Alfred_

Alex hadn’t been back to Yharnam since he got the transporter back, and going back would be good if it meant finding more out about the Templar known as Ludwig. He knew the bridge led to Cathedral Ward and it might be the best way to get there if he could avoid the yet unseen Cleric Beast. Evie stirred and woke up.

“Morning,” she said with a smile.

“Morning, I just got a message from Alfred, he wants to meet me at Cathedral Ward, he says he found some more information about Byrgenwerth College, and this Ludwig,” Alex told her.

“What do you think he found?” Evie asked.

“I’m not sure, maybe something to do with the Great Ones,” Alex replied.

“At our first meeting he mentioned briefly how Ludwig and Gehrman were working in the Healing Church workshop, perhaps he’s got more information regarding that?” she suggested.

“Possibly, it will mean crossing Yharnam Bridge,” Alex said.

“Well you better be careful, Henry and I are going to Parliament to search for the Shroud,” Evie said.

“Keep a watch out for Blighters, they may not have the exact locations but they will try and get the key back,” Alex warned her.

“I’ll make sure to keep a look out, how long will you be gone?” Evie asked.

“A few hours hopefully, I’ll make sure to send Shayde to you with a message if I’ll be longer,” Alex replied. He didn’t know how long he would be in Yharnam for, time was strange there, like a perpetual dusk, night and dawn, with no daytime.

When he was dressed, Alex gave Evie a long tender kiss goodbye.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said to her and pressed the black button on the transporter. He arrived in Iosefka’s Clinic and found a woman tending the wounds of a townsperson.

“Greetings Hunter, I am Iosefka, how are you this fine evening?” she asked Alex.

“I am well Iosefka, I seek a passage to Cathedral Ward,” Alex replied. The wounded man looked up at him, his eyes were gaunt and red, his face heavily scarred with ageing lines, and he himself frail.

“Be careful if you seek the ward, for the Cleric Beast guards the gate,” the old man said to him.

“Has anyone tried to defeat the beast?” Alex asked curiously.

“Few have tried…and failed, sometimes at dawn we recover the body of a Hunter and return it to the dream, or we find a member of the town, too many have suffered at the hands of the beast,” Iosefka told him, her voice heavy with melancholy “And you will die too if you try.”

“I have to go to Cathedral Ward, it is important I go there,” Alex said to them.

“Then take care Hunter, for it is a savage beast, take this,” Iosefka said handing him a blood vial. It was different from the ones given to him by Gehrman, he had never actually used the vials since he received them.

“What is it?” he asked.

“A special kind of blood vial with special healing properties, absorb the blood and be restored,” she explained. Alex thanked her with a gracious bow and left her to help the old man.

Alex left the clinic and made his way into Central Yharnam, a townsperson nodded at him respectfully as Alex climbed the ladder that led up to the lantern outside of Gilberts house. The gate by Gilbert’s house was open and Alex walked down the stairs, every moment he got closer to the bridge, he could sense the beast. Perhaps it was the blood of the hunter in him that made him able to sense its strength, or perhaps it was the fear in him. He then found a building with an old man outside, he was in a wheelchair brandishing a blunderbuss.

“Excuse me, how do I get to the bridge?” he asked the old man.

“Through the house, just go up the stairs, you plannin’ on fightin’ the beast, ain’t nobody lived fightin’ the beast,” the old man said. Alex nodded as thanks to the man and walked into the house. He walked up the stairs and to the left was an open door with more steps, this time leading up to the bridge. He could hear the shriek of the beast, the foul stench of wet earth mixed with tainted blood. Crows hissed and screeched at him, they were hungry for his flesh he could see it in their beady black eyes that shined under the evening sun. Fear crawled up his spine whispering intrusive thoughts about dying horrifically at the hands of the beast. Alex thought about Evie, beautiful, strong, dedicated Evie. If the beast killed him, he would never see her again. Never feel the softness of her hair, the way she would smile at the simplest of things, and the way she could crack a man’s skull open.

“I will not fail you Evie,” he said to himself. “I love you.”

Armed with the Hunter’s Pistol in his left hand and the Hunter’s Axe in his right hand, Alex marched down the bridge past the Crows and the Huntsman’s Minion and under the arch. He stood in the middle of the bridge as a mist blocked him from leaving and he shouted:

“Come and fight me, you scourge of the damned!”

Something shrieked in reply and the Cleric Beast leapt over the wall of Cathedral Ward and onto the bridge. The Cleric Beast was grotesque, it looked like a giant wolf, the fur matted and shredded, black and red mixing into a thick mess that made the beast inhuman and bedraggled, monstrous antlers that twisted, branched, and spired protruded from its head like thick blades, it’s claws, sharpened like spears, and its mouth filled with deadly, razor sharp teeth and fangs. Alex felt the blood surging through him, his heart furiously pounding in his chest. The beast looked down at him and let out a high-pitched shriek that alerted the whole of Central Yharnam to its presence.

The beast ran at Alex and threw down its claws, but Alex dodged it and shot it with a quicksilver bullet, the beast staggered and fell to its knees as Alex swung the axe against its torso hard, then as if overcome with the Hunter’s blood he stuck his hand through its body, twisted its insides around and let go of the beast. It shrieked in pain but the beast was still strong and swiftly hit Alex with its claw sending him flying sideways and hitting the bridge wall. Injured, he grabbed a blood vial from inside his coat pocket and crushed the glass absorbing the blood, it strengthened him and he stood up stretching the axe out into a halberd and staring at the beast as it shrieked and absorbed some strange blood-like energy.

“It’s that the best you’ve got beast, I will not fall to you,” Alex shouted to the beast, hoping to taunt it. The beast shrieked again and ran at Alex, its claws stretched out. Alex ran at the beast and leapt into the air, he used his strength to swing the axe and struck the beast in the head. The beast hit the floor shrieking and writing as Alex wrenched the axe out from its head and swung the axe down upon the beast, it shrieked again and grabbed Alex and threw him away from him. Alex hit the ground and skidded across the ground, pain seared through him as he absorbed another vial and grabbed the axe. He was drenched in the blood of the beast but he could see it was weak, two more strong hits would kill it he thought as the beast staggered and absorbed more energy. Alex threw a pebble at the beast to get its attention as it screamed out and swiped at him from afar.

“That’s it, keep tiring yourself out,” he muttered as he ran and did a forward roll past the swipes of its claws and swung the axe, cutting deep into the monsters torso again. The beast staggered again and Alex hit it again with the axe and another visceral attack. It was weakening, slowly but surely and it had very little strength left to fight. The beast swiped at Alex catching his arm and pushing him off balance but the beast was wearing down. He leapt up and swung the axe again with all his remaining strength and hit the beast in its back. The axe sliced clean through its spine and the beast began to cry out in searing pain and then fall to the floor dead.

Breathless Alex stood over the corpse of the Cleric Beast, it slowly dissolved into ash and he saw buried in the ash, a Hunter’s Badge like the one Lucy Thorne had. The Cleric Beast was dead. Alex walked towards the gates of Cathedral Ward, but they were locked, barred from the other side.

“All that for nothing,” he said wearily. Exhausted he left the bridge and returned to Gilbert’s house. Gilbert saw Alex and saw he was bloody and tired.

“You fought the beast, I heard its cries of pain but, why have you not ventured into Cathedral Ward did?” he asked Alex curiously.

“The gates are locked Gilbert, I cannot get in,” Alex replied. Gilbert thought for a second and then an idea hit him.

“What about the aqueducts, you explored it didn’t you?” he asked Alex.

“I did but we only came out by the fountain plaza, unless there’s another way,” he replied.

“I think there is a passage in the aqueducts, yes, it leads to the graveyard of Oedon Chapel I would try your luck there,” Gilbert suggested.

“Thank you Gilbert, I shall try that way,” Alex said.

“Good luck Hunter, the night is drawing in, so I’d be very careful,” Gilbert warned him. Alex took the information and left towards the plaza, the townspeople were preparing for another hunt and the Cleric Beast had left him with a strange kind of bravery, one that was telling him to venture into the aqueducts alone.

He reached the aqueducts and climbed down avoiding the rats, and corpses, but he felt uneasy, a strange crawling feeling was running up and down his spine but he couldn’t figure out what was bothering him. As he entered a sewer tunnel he finally saw why he was feeling so uneasy, at the end of the tunnel was a large Goliath Pig.

“Oh fuck!” Alex exclaimed as it looked at him with an angry look. The pig squealed and charged towards him, Alex dodged the pig as it ran past him. He ran away from the angry pig and saw a ladder leading upwards and began to quickly climb before it noticed he was there.

When he reached the top he found himself in a graveyard on the back of Oedon Chapel. He walked through examining the stones when he saw a man knelt on the floor weeping.

“Oh Viola, oh why did you run, you shouldn’t have run,” he said hugging the body of his wife. Alex recognised the name Viola meaning the man had to be Gascoigne.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Alex said to the man.

“She was not supposed to be here, I was supposed to come back, but the beast was too strong,” Gascoigne said.

“Are you a Hunter?” Alex asked. Gascoigne placed his wife gently on the ground and stood up to face Alex.

“I am Father Gascoigne, a Hunter Priest, I came to Yharnam about twenty years ago. Viola must have come looking for me when I didn’t come back, I was chasing a beast down…and it…it killed her, would you help me fight the beast, I can smell it nearby,” Gascoigne said to Alex.

“I would be happy to help Father Gascoigne,” Alex replied. He didn’t seem so bad and could help him get to Cathedral Ward.

The two of them searched the graveyard for the beast, Alex was unsure of Gascoigne, he seemed friendly but slightly obsessed with the hunt. Perhaps the music box would ease him, but only after they had found the beast that killed Viola. Then Alex found it, skulking about the graveyard, he signalled to Gascoigne that the beast was near and he threw a pebble at it to draw it out.

“Foul beast,” Gascoigne said killing the beast with his axe. Alex could only watch as the man hacked and slashed the beast and practically mashed it into a messy mass of fur, flesh and blood, he stopped and sighed “It is done.”

“Gascoigne sir, I believe I met your daughter, she asked me to give you this,” Alex said handing him the music box. Gascoigne took the box and opened it. A soft melody played and it saddened him.

“Viola would play it whenever I returned from the hunt, it was soothe me, make me remember who I am, the hunt is a fierce thing, I must return to my daughters, but why are you here?” Gascoigne asked, he had only met Alex, but it was no coincidence a fellow Hunter would be in a graveyard outside Oedon Chapel.

“I’m to meet someone in Cathedral Ward, but the gates were locked, I fought and killed the Cleric Beast for nothing it seems,” Alex replied. This news surprised Gascoigne.

“You killed the Cleric Beast, I had sought to kill it, but it was too strong for me, that you killed it…you must be a special hunter, here take this, this key opens the door to Oedon Chapel, you could probably fair better with it, I hope we meet again…?” Gascoigne said handing the key over to Alex.

“Alexander,” Alex said.

“Alexander…yes, your title shall be the Cleric Slayer, may we meet again Cleric Slayer,” Gascoigne said and left the graveyard. Alex looked at the key, a fellow Hunter had given him a title, Alexander the Cleric Slayer. He took the key to the gates of Odeon Chapel and unlocked it. It was time to meet Alfred again.


	16. Cathedral Ward

Inside Oedon Chapel, it was dark and decrepit, but there was a person in there. A blind man wearing a red cloak.

“Who’s there…a Hunter I smell, welcome to Cathedral Ward, or more specifically Oedon Chapel,” the Dweller said to Alex.

“Thank you, who are you?” Alex asked.

“A simple dweller of Oedon Chapel, keeping the beasts away with incense, they despise the smell, they do, why have you ventured here Hunter?” the Dweller asked.

“I am here to meet Alfred, he asked me to meet him here at Cathedral Ward,” Alex told the Dweller.

“Ah young Alfred, he is praying outside by the statue of Oedon,” the Dweller said. Alex went off to find Alfred, he wondered what he had to say about Ludwig and Byrgenwerth College. He found Alfred kneeling in front of a statue praying.

“Alfred?” Alex asked.

“You made it to Cathedral Ward then Hunter,” Alfred said standing up. “I said I had information on Byrgenwerth College and I did find something, I found this,” he handed Alex a Chalice.

“A Chalice?”

“These are used in the Chalice Dungeons, when Willem discovered the Tomb of the Old Gods the Byrgenwerth College was created, the discovery of the Old Blood changed everything, you know Gehrman was the first Hunter correct?” Alfred said.

“Yes, but he was an Assassin from my realm,” Alex said.

“Correct, he discovered the way and joined Willem at Byrgenwerth, but then after he left with Laurence and Micolash, he became the first Hunter. But when Laurence created the Healing Church, he broke away from Gehrman and made Ludwig first Hunter of the Healing Church, knowing who Ludwig really was Gehrman locked the doorway between your world and Yharnam,” Alfred explained. It was interesting information but where was the connection to the First Civilisation and the Templars.

“What does this have to do with the Templars, with everything?” Alex asked Alfred.

“The Templars want the ideology of the Healing Church, they want the Blood of Eden,” he told Alex.

“The Blood of Eden?” Alex had never heard of such a thing before.

“Known as the Old Blood, what the college sought to contain and learn through, what the Blood Ministrations use, what Ludwig had to protect. Willem knew that the Blood of Eden was dangerous, why else would the Great Ones hide it away in the Tomb of the Old Gods, and when Laurence created the Church…that’s how Old Yharnam burned,” Alfred told him.

“Old Yharnam?” Alex asked, he’d heard of Old Yharnam, he’d never left Central Yharnam to know why it was called Old Yharnam.

“The Blood of Eden got corrupted within the church, it poisoned the waters of Old Yharnam who were obsessed with the blood, everyone became to get contract the baffling sickness and then that’s when the beasts began to form, the Blood of Eden became known as the Plague of Eden, the Hunters burned the town to the ground and built New Yharnam higher up from the waters, the Healing Church made the walls higher and sturdier, and thus began the Night of the Hunt,” Alfred said. “That is all I have on the matter right now Hunter, good day.”

Alex was surprised by the information, the Piece of Eden wasn’t cloth nor chalice but blood, but what was so powerful and dangerous about the blood that made Willem fear it, what made Laurence crave its power, he wondered. How did it get corrupted to cause the plague, and how come the plague still continued? He knew everyone was infected with the plague but it wasn’t severe, what changed to keep the townspeople of Yharnam relatively sane? He had many more questions, but it was enough information for Henry to use. With the Shroud nearly in their grasp, Old Yharnam would have to wait.

He returned to his lab where Shayde was now wearing a small top hat.

“Where did you get that?” he asked Shayde who too busy enjoying his new hat. He then saw a letter on the floor and picked it up.

“Dear Alexander Graham Bell, by the order of her majesty the Queen you are hereby invited to a Masquerade Ball on the 27th at Buckingham Palace,” Alex read. An invitation to Buckingham Palace to attend a ball, it was a gracious invitation but he was suspicious of the invite. He hadn’t made much progress of some of his work since he became a Hunter, so why was the Queen inviting him to an event at the palace. He heard the door open and saw Evie and Henry walk in. The sight of her made his heart skip a beat and he remembered the Cleric Beast.

“Evie!” he cried running to hug her. “I thought I’d never see you again.” Evie was surprised by the hug, but something must have happened in Yharnam, she noticed the dried blood over his clothes.

“What happened to you Aleck?” she asked him as he let her go.

“I fought the Cleric Beast on the Yharnam Bridge, it almost killed me,” he told her.

“What?” Evie asked shocked.

“Almost, it didn’t get the chance to because I killed it first, I was able to survive thanks to these blood vials,” Alex told her showing her the glass vial filled with blood.

“Blood, interesting,” Henry said examining the vial.

“After I killed it, I found the gates to Cathedral Ward locked, so I had to face off a giant pig in the sewers to reach the Cathedral Ward graveyard,” Alex said.

“So what did you find out?” Evie asked.

“I found out what the Piece of Eden the Healing Church protects is called. It’s called the Blood of Eden, but it’s corrupted and is now known as the Plague of Eden,” he explained to them.

“I’ve never heard of the Blood of Eden, the guilds history of Eden never mentioned blood,” Henry said. He was familiar with a lot of the guilds history and Eden.

“It puzzled me too, but Alfred said that when Willem discovered it in the Tomb of the Old Gods, he knew it was dangerous but it didn’t stop Laurence creating the Healing Church and Blood Ministration,” Alex said.

“But how did the Blood of Eden get corrupted?” Evie asked him.

“I don’t know, Alfred said it was corrupted and poisoned the waters of Old Yharnam, I have to go there next, the lanterns will make travel easier,” Alex told her.

“But why Old Yharnam?” Henry asked.

“That was where the plague began, they sent in Hunters to burn the town and rebuilt away from the valley,” Alex explained.

“Well we can use this to our advantage, if we can get the Shroud first I bet we could find out what it does and perhaps use it in Yharnam, we’re going to Buckingham Palace next,” Henry said.

“Buckingham Palace, I got an invitation from there, the Queen is holding a Masquerade Ball on the 27th, they asked me to attend,” Alex said showing them the invitation. It had the royal seal, making it legitimate.

“That’s in four days,” Evie said.

“It might be in four days but we can use this to our advantage, we could get in and look for the vault, Alex do you have a guest invitation?” Henry asked.

“I can bring one guest,” Alex said looking at the invitation.

“Good, then you can get Evie in, I can get my own invitation through some connections, I’ll make Jacob my guest and we can search for the vault, we’ll also need to see who else is attending, any allies could be useful,” Henry said. Evie found it suspicious, an invitation to a Masquerade Ball at the palace which could hold the Shroud, she didn’t know if it was a trap or just an event.

Henry left to return to the train to get in contact with someone who get him an invitation to the palace. Evie stayed with Alex in his lab as he told her about Father Gascoigne.

“You found him?” Evie asked.

“Yes, a beast had killed his wife,” Alex told her.

“How horrible.”

“He gave me the key to Odeon Chapel in return for helping him find what killed his wife, when I told him I killed the Cleric Beast on the bridge he called me…Cleric Slayer,” Alex told her.

“Cleric Slayer, sexy, makes you sound dangerous,” Evie said impressed with the title.

“I guess it does,” Alex said bashfully. Evie kissed him softly, he was still the same Alex she first met. The door opened and Jacob walked in unannounced.

“I thought I’d find you two here, I have a request,” he said.

“Can it wait?” Evie asked annoyed at his interruption.

“No, Charlie told me that our good Scotsman here used to fight, so how about it, Robert Topping’s holding a fight club tonight in Whitechapel, fancy a go?” Jacob said.

“Fight club, I haven’t been to one in four years,” Alex said.

“Well then, it’s settled, you should come too sister,” Jacob suggested to her. While fight clubs were not her thing, she couldn’t resist watching Jacob get his ass kicked.

“Alright, I’ll come,” she agreed. Excited with the news Jacob left the lab abruptly.

“Well that was abrupt, now where were we?” Alex asked. Evie smiled and kissed Alex again, pushing him against his workbench.


	17. Fight Club

That evening in Whitechapel, Evie, Alex, Jacob and Charlie arrived at the fight club, Robert Topping was collecting bets on the fights that were going to take place.

“Jacob, Evie, you made it, there’s a lot of money riding on you four tonight, Jacob you’re up first,” Robert told them. Jacob grinned and took off his jacket and shirt, passing it to Charlie and stepped into the fighting pit. Another man entered and Robert announced to the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentleman from the Rooks of London Jacob Frye and from the Blighters of London, Fredrick Drake, ready, set, fight!” The fight began and Jacob and Fredrick slowly circled the pit. Fredrick ran at Jacob but he was quick to dodge and took him out quickly.

“Who’s next,” he shouted as Charlie watched with love in his eyes.

“I love your brother,” he said to Evie with a lovesick grin. Evie found it hard to believe that Charlie and Jacob were in love, Jacob was known to break hearts. The fight ended with Jacob winning after taking down three men at once.

“Thank you, thank you,” Jacob said as he left the pit. “And thank you,” he said giving Charlie a passionate kiss. It left Charlie star struck but now it was Evie’s turn to fight. She took off her coat and entered the pit when three men entered.

“Three against one?” Alex asked curiously to Robert.

“Everyone gets a challenge, trust me she can take three men down, it’s you I’m worried about,” he said to Alex. This got him wondering about his own fight.

“From the Rooks of London, Miss Evie Frye and from the Blighters of London Rick, Stark and Terrence!”

Evie didn’t hesitate knocking Terrence of his feet and went for Stark and Rick together, she smashed their heads together but they were still standing. Rick swung a left hook but she caught it, twisting his arm and kicking him in the stomach. Stark tried to grab her but she swung Rick around and into Stark knocking them both to the floor.

“Come here you bitch!” Terrence shouted as he grabbed her arm from behind and threw her to the ground. This didn’t stop her, she grabbed his foot and yanked him to the floor and grabbed his arm and broke it instantly. Rick and Stark began to move towards her and she grabbed them both. Kicking Stark in the groin this time, he dropped to the floor and she punched Rick in the face knocking him out cold. But Terrence was still there to deal with. She turned to him and he swung his broken arm at her, he then cried out in pain and fell the floor and called for mercy. The crowd cheered as Evie bowed for them.

“And Evie Frye wins, she is a force of nature that one, I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side,” Robert announced to the crowd. He then turned to Alex. “You’re up Scotty,” Alex removed his coat and shirt which promoted a wolf whistle from a few women in the crowd and he stepped into the ring. Even Jacob had to admit that he had an impressive body.

“Alright people, next fight of the night, all the way from Edinburgh, Scotland, former fighter and current man of science Alexander Graham Bell and from Glasgow Scotland, Professional Scottish fighter One-Eyed Pete,” Robert announced. Alex’s heart seemed to stop in his chest, One-Eyed Pete. He hadn’t seen the man since he was fifteen when he first beat him. One-Eyed Pete entered the pit, Alex couldn’t tell if Pete had gotten bigger in the past six years or just angrier.

“Well, well if it isn’t the little bell, you might have beat me through sheer luck when you were but a teenager, but you’re a man now, let’s see if you can still win after all these years,” Pete said tauntingly.

“That’s One-Eyed Pete!” Charlie asked Alex from the other side of the wall.

“The very same,” he replied as Robert called for the fight to begin.

“Come on little bell, are you scared?” Pete said taunting him as they circled the pit.

“You Glaswegians are all the same, all talk and no balls,” Alex said in a flat tone. The crowd became intrigued with their fight now.

“Oh is that so, well how about I break both your arms this time!” Pete shouted charging at Alex, he quickly dodged allowing Pete’s momentum to drive himself into the wall.

“Is that the best you can do,” Alex said. Pete glared at him and threw a right hook. He managed to hit Alex knocking him off balance, but he wasn’t going to let some Glasgow Jock get the better of him.

“Oh pathetic Pete, now how about I give you a Glasgow Kiss,” he said and head-butted Pete hard. Pete fell back and swung a left hook, but Alex had the upper hand and dodged it, returning it with an uppercut. Evie couldn’t believe her eyes, Alex could fight and he was treating this like a bar fight against some drunkard with a grudge. Pete grabbed Alex’s arm and slammed him to the ground, but Alex wasn’t going to give up yet, he quickly leapt back up into a fighting stance.

“Still alive little bell, at this point you nearly gave up in our first fight,” Pete said.

“Yeah, well back then you were fighting a fifteen year old, I’m twenty-one now and I’ll still knock you on your ass like I did last time,” Alex said jeeringly. Evie was intrigued to see if he would win. She wondered why he never mentioned being a fighter before. Pete swung another right hook, but Alex ducked and punched Pete in the gut hard, Pete staggered and Alex then gave him an uppercut and then a left hook. It was like a blur as Alex punched the man until he was down on the floor. He pinned Pete’s leg with his foot and held his arm behind his back.

“I win,” Alex said snapping Pete’s wrist and breaking the bone in his leg.

“Mercy,” Pete shouted. Alex had won, the crowd cheered as Alex bowed for them.

“Like taking out a beast,” he muttered to himself. Evie, Jacob and Charlie leapt into the ring to congratulate Alex on his win.

“That was amazing Alex,” Charlie said.

“Holy shit where did you learn that?” Jacob asked, he was impressed by his skills. Evie simply responded by kissing him in front of everyone, prompting reactions from the crowd.

“You were on fire,” she said to him. Pete stood up, supported by a fellow fighter, and held out the hand that wasn’t broken to Alex.

“You fight well kid, you’ve definitely honed your skills since your first fight, keep it up and you could become a professional,” he said to Alex.

“Thanks Pete,” he replied shaking his hand.

The rest of the fights were relatively tame and by the end of the Robert Topping had won a lot of money.

“Well done you four, you were my biggest profit of the night, everyone placed their money on One-Eyed Pete but you, you won me the night,” he told Alex.

“That’s what happens when you pitch someone from Edinburgh against someone from Glasgow,” Alex said. The fight club was a good way to relax for them, but now they had a new mission, their first goal was to search Westminster Abbey and make sure the Shroud was not there, the second goal was to get into Buckingham Palace and recover the Shroud before Crawford Starrick could get his hands on it.


	18. Lady Of The Night

It was two days before the Masquerade Ball and Henry had managed to secure an invitation to the event. Alex had RSVP’d with Evie as his guest and planned on wearing his Hunter armour to the event. That morning he had received a message from Gascoigne requesting to meet him at Cathedral Ward. When he arrived, Gascoigne was speaking with the Dweller.

“Cleric Slayer, you’ve arrived, I need your assistance in something,” he told Alex.

“How can I help?” Alex asked.

“In Cathedral Ward there is a woman I have been corresponding with via the messengers, I informed her of my dear Viola’s death and she’s agreed to come to Central Yharnam to help raise my daughters as their nanny, unfortunately she’s in a part of the district that is guarded by several beasts and crazy townspeople, I can’t go in there alone to get her, so I’ll need your help to bring her back here so we can go to back to Central Yharnam,” Gascoigne told him. It was a good cause and perhaps this woman could give him some insight into Cathedral Ward and the Healing Church.

“I’m happy to help Gascoigne,” Alex agreed. Gascoigne smiled at the agreement and passed him an item.

“Good, you’ll need to take this, it’s a pungent blood cocktail, good to distract some of the larger huntsmen, the giants will be a problem though if we disturb them,” he said.

“Giants?” Alex said in surprise.

“Exactly, now let’s go, dawn is turning to dusk and we’ll only have a few hours until night,” Gascoigne said and lead Alex out of Oedon Chapel.

They walked through the Central Plaza, two giants wandered the area, Gascoigne kept his head down and the giants ignored him and Alex. They came to a small alley leading into the district a little further, it was dark in the alley and incense was lit outside some of the houses.

“In this place, they worship the Healing Church, drinking its blood, giving it and the Great Ones thanks for the blood, they’ve gone mad with worship, mad from the blood, sometimes I wonder if these people even know what’s going on, why the church locks its gates and leaves people like me and my daughters vulnerable to the beasts,” Gascoigne told Alex as they walked down the alley.

“What happened Gascoigne, what caused the Blood of Eden to get corrupted?” Alex asked him. Gascoigne was curious that he knew what it was.

“How do you know about the Blood of Eden Cleric Slayer?” he asked suspiciously.

“I call myself outsider because I am from the realm on the other side of the doorway between Yharnam and my world, the assassin’s in my world, they look for the Pieces of Eden, to keep them protected from the Templars who seek to gain power from these artefacts, I was told by someone in the chapel that Willem discovered the blood when he found the Tomb of the Old Gods, and he said it got corrupted, but how?” Alex replied.

“I know how, it was a contract with the Great Ones, they used a woman with the likeness of Queen Yharnam as a surrogate to bear the child Mergo, but the child died and yet the Healing Church still used its blood, the blood of a dead Great One is not blood that can be used but the Church didn’t listen, it tainted the Blood of Eden, corrupted it, the Church didn’t know and still distributed the blood to the citizens of Old Yharnam, they contracted the Beastly Scourge, the pills the church gave out did very little and so they burned it to the ground, Gehrman and Willem knew the price of the blood, but Laurence wouldn’t listen and he made sure Ludwig could protect the blood along with the ministers,” Gascoigne explained. Tainted blood, but what could have the Church gained by mixing the Blood of Eden with the blood of this Mergo.

“Who was Mergo?” Alex asked.

“Mergo was the original Queen Yharnam’s son, the Great One Oedon impregnated her and told her she would give birth to a Great One, unfortunately she was dreaming when she was impregnated and thus the child could only live in a nightmare, so it was slain. When the Healing Church learned of this, they tried to repeat the ritual, careful to make sure that the surrogate was awake when the ritual was done. If the Church could recreate the conception of Mergo and bring him into the world, they could use him to be granted an audience with the Great Ones and raise Mergo within the Church. But the Church also made a fatal mistake and the child was dead, but even with the child dead Laurence believed he could still use Mergo’s blood, unaware it was tainted,” Gascoigne replied to Alex as they passed the chained up coffins.

“How was it tainted?”

“By death dear boy, life makes blood pure and useable, death taints it, turning it impure and nightmarish, and that is why the Blood of Eden is corrupted. The Blood of Eden was eternally pure because it was created by the Great Ones,” Gascoigne explained. Alex thought about his words as they checked the alley, they found two sleeping townspeople and quietly killed them both. If the Blood of Eden was created by the Great Ones, then were the Great Ones part of the First Civilisation. He’d have to inform Henry of this information when he returned to London.

“This way,” Gascoigne said as he turned left down an alley. Alex followed him and they came to two houses with incense outside. Gascoigne knocked on the house on the right.

“Who’s there?” a man’s voice said.

“It’s Gascoigne,” Gascoigne replied.

“Gascoigne, well I’ll be, I haven’t heard from you in a while,” the man replied.

“It has been a while, listen you said you needed to get outside of this place, well the Dweller in Oedon Chapel is looking for survivors, people who need sanctuary, you can go there, it’s safe for you there,” Gascoigne said to the man.

“You serious, oh thank you Father Gascoigne, thank you,” said the man. Alex was perplexed by the man trusting Gascoigne so easily, but he did not question it after all he also trusted Gascoigne quite quickly. They then knocked on the other door.

“Oh Gascoigne is that you?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Yes, Arianna it’s me, I’m here to bring you to Central Yharnam,” Gascoigne told her.

“Oh thank you Gascoigne, now I can finally leave,” Arianna said. She opened the door dressed in a long red dress and a black coat. “We don’t have much time to leave, the guards will be returning soon.”

“Guards?” Alex asked.

“Let’s go,” Gascoigne said as the man from the other house opened his door to leave with them. Alex did not hesitate to follow the three of them back through the alley, and he saw two large beasts walking through the mist. They ran through the Central Plaza getting the attention of the giants who started to follow them. “Keep up Cleric Slayer,” Gascoigne shouted to Alex as they ran towards the steps of Oedon Chapel.

Once inside they were greeted by the Dweller who was happy to see the man.

“Welcome survivor, come sit I’ll make you some tea,” the Dweller said guiding the man into the chapel. The Dweller though strange in appearance had good intentions to keeping people safe, something people in his own home lacked.

“Thank you for your assistance Cleric Slayer, I hope I was also of help to you, but I need to ask out of curiosity and concern, why do you seek the Blood of Eden?” Gascoigne asked Alex.

“Templars in my world seek to enter Yharnam and bring the Blood of Eden to London, if they are unaware it’s tainted, they could bring the Beast Plague to London and destroy everything,” Alex said.

“Then you are part of something very dangerous in seeking the Blood of Eden, it can be purified but it requires another Piece of Eden,” Gascoigne told him.

“What kind of piece?” Alex asked.

“You need a Shroud of Eden to restore the blood to its natural purity,” Gascoigne said and he left Odeon Chapel with Arianna.

Alex wasted no time in returning to London and looking for Henry, he had a lot of information to give him. Henry thankfully wasn’t far away, he was on the train reading The Castle of Otranto in the original Italian.

“Henry, I come bearing a lot of information regarding the Blood of Eden,” he said stumbling onto the train as it left the platform.

“But I just reached the best part,” Henry said closing the book.

“Henry, this is serious, I know what corrupted the blood, the Healing Church tried to recreate a ritual that would allow a human to birth the Great One Mergo, but the child died and the church still used Mergo’s blood which tainted the Blood of Eden,” Alex said.

“How?” Henry asked curiously.

“Father Gascoigne said that life makes blood pure and useable, death taints it, the Church thought mixing Mergo’s blood would still work, but it didn’t it corrupted the blood, created the Plague, and the Templars don’t know this or maybe they do, but there is a way to purify the blood and get rid of the plague,” Alex told Henry as he examined the many books on Henry’s desk.

“How can you purify tainted blood?” Henry asked.

“We need the Shroud of Eden, Gascoigne said that the Shroud can restore the blood to its natural purity, so we need to get to that Shroud first before Crawford and Lucy do,” Alex said. Henry knew this was serious, he went to the desk and found a book called The Secret Hunters.

“I received this from the guild in Italy, I knew Byrgenwerth sounded familiar, it was recorded down in this. It seems when Gehrman was travelling between Yharnam and London, he learned about the blood and studied its properties with this Master Willem fellow at the college, when Laurence left to create the Church and Ludwig arrived on the scene Gehrman asked an Assassin in London with him to fake his death and erase him from the history except for this book, he said that the guild must keep this book away from Templars at all cost and only use it should they find the way to Yharnam again,” Henry said showing Alex the book.

“Of course, he went to Yharnam before the Church was founded, Laurence must have known Gehrman then and when Ludwig found Yharnam, he found a way to try and keep Gehrman away from the Blood of Eden, but Gehrman is over four hundred years old, Ludwig and Laurence must be dead unless they’re harnessing the same kind of immortality Gehrman is,” Alex replied.

“We’ll need the Shroud first before we make a move on Old Yharnam and look for the Healing Church,” Henry said. Jacob entered the train at that point.

“Henry I have a problem, a very big Templar problem,” he said.

“What did you do?” Henry asked knowing Jacob had done something wrong.

“I thought Pearl Attaway was a regular person being screwed over by Crawford Starrick, well it turns out she is Crawford’s cousin, making her a Templar, meaning I might have just allowed Starrick to have the Internal Combustion Engines,” Jacob told them. Alex leaned against the table with a smirk on his face.

“She played you like a fiddle Jacob, how do you plan to take her out?” he asked.

“That’s where you come in, you’ll be a ‘contact’ of Ned’s interested in the science behind the engines and that you want to be in the service of Crawford Starrick, she’ll be sceptical but you’ll have to be very persuasive and when she makes the agreement, I leap in and kill her,” Jacob explained to him. Henry sighed and rolled his eyes, he knew it wasn’t a very sound idea but Jacob was known to improvise when it came to his work.

“I’ll help you,” he agreed.

“Great, let’s go, her train is at Charing Cross,” Jacob said exiting the moving train. Alex glanced at Henry, who said nothing, and followed Jacob out of the train.


	19. Bloody Pearls

Alex and Jacob reached Charing Cross where Pearl’s train was sitting waiting in the station, there were large crates on the train being guarded by Blighters.

“Shit, she’s got the engines, but luckily I spy Ned Wynert nearby,” Jacob said spotting the New Yorker amongst the crowd. He and Alex approached Ned who was concluding business with some Welshman.

“Glad to help sir,” Ned said and turned to Jacob and Alex who approached him. “Well, well Jacob Frye, what can I do for you today?” he asked them.

“You remember those combustion engines, well Pearl has them on her train over there, we need to steal them off her train before she leaves to give them to Starrick,” Jacob said to him.

“A heist job eh, don’t worry Jacob, I can help you there, I should have a train arriving in the next twenty minutes, you just need to get those men away from the goods, you hear?” Ned said to them. Jacob nodded, he had the perfect plan but Alex wasn’t so sure it was going to work.

“I thought we were just going to kill her?” Alex asked.

“Change of plan, you’re going to kill Pearl Attaway whilst Ned and I steal the engines,” Jacob told him.

“Are you insane Jacob, I’m not an assassin,” Alex said objecting to this plan.

“Well you are now, Scotty, just get onto that train and kill her before her men notice,” Jacob said before leaving with Ned. Alex had no choice, he had to assassinate Pearl Attaway. He made his way to Pearl’s train it was being guarded by Blighters.

“Fuck, what do I do?” Alex asked himself as he walked through the crowd, he then found in his pocket a spare hallucinogenic dart from his day with Evie. He smiled at the dart and loaded into the makeshift gauntlet he had made from his Hunter gloves. He hid behind a pillar and took aim at a Blighter standing near a police officer. He fired the dart, it hit the man and sent him into a rage and started attacking the police officer. As the crowd began to panic and Blighters began to scatter as more police officers arrived, Alex crept onto the train. He searched the first two carriages which were empty except for weapons for the Blighters. He then saw Pearl sitting in her private carriage, now he had to find a way to kill her.

He pulled up the scarf hiding his face except for his eyes and tilted the hat forward slightly. It would be enough for her to not recognise him. He took out from under his coat the Hunter’s Pistol and opened the carriage door. He had no blade to kill her with so the Pistol had to do. Pearl was sitting drinking a cup of tea at her desk, unaware that Alex was standing behind her. He pressed the pistol to the back of her head prompting her attention.

“Who are you?” she asked in a calm tone.

“No one you know,” Alex replied disguising his voice.

“Oh really, so why do I have a gun to my head?” Pearl asked.

“Because I have been ordered to kill you Miss Attaway, you think you can manipulate people with your words and your sugar sweet seduction, not all of us are prey to your charm. I’m a Hunter, and right now you are my prey,” Alex said to her.

“A Hunter? Well Crawford would find this interesting, a pity he isn’t here, he’s wanted meet the Hunter known as Alexander for some time now,” Pearl said.

“I’m sure he’ll get over it, just like he’ll get over your death,” Alex said firing the pistol. The Quicksilver bullet shot through her head creating a bloody mess. Spying the pearl necklace around her neck he undid and removed it from her and pocketed it, now he had to get off the train, the pistol would have drawn attention.

Quickly he leapt off the train into a large crowd that was gathering and made his way towards Jacob and Ned who had managed to lure the Blighters away and were removing the crates from the train.

“Did you do it, we heard the gun shot,” Jacob said.

“I did, but she knew who I was, Crawford seems insistent on finding me,” Alex told them.

“Excellent, now help us with these crates,” Jacob replied. Alex sighed and helped them with the crates. As soon as Ned’s train arrived and Pearl’s train departed without the crates, Ned was congratulating Jacob on a job well done.

“Excellent work Mr Frye, I should be able to find a reputable buyer for these engines, highest bid wins after all,” Ned said.

“Indeed Neddy my boy,” Jacob said slapping him playfully on the shoulder.

“Well with your Pearl problem sorted, we can get to the matter of the masquerade ball,” Alex said.

“Oh you’re going too?” Ned asked.

“You got an invite,” Jacob commented, surprised by this information.

“Of course, the Queen is eager to meet the young businessman turning her city a profit,” Ned told them.

“It makes sense for you to get an invite, but why me?” Alex asked.

“Because you’re smart and you can knock a man down twice your size, I’ve seen him fight he’s really good,” Jacob said.

“I’ll have to place some bets on you then, good luck boys,” Ned said and left with his train and the engines. Jacob and Alex left the station where Charlie and two other Rooks were waiting with a carriage.

“Jacob, are you ready, Henry and Evie want us to meet them in Westminster,” Charlie said.

“Yes we are Charlie my man, to Westminster, come on Scotty, Henry’s booked us at the finest tailor in London to make us outfits for the ball,” Jacob said as he climbed into the carriage beside Charlie, greeting him with a peck on the lips. Alex climbed into the back of the carriage with the other two Rooks and they drove to Westminster.

They arrived at a Tailor named Ignazio’s Italians Finery and walked in, Henry was dressed down in a fine suit fit for an Assassin whilst Evie was behind a wall separator objecting to the dress given to her.

“I’m not wearing it!” she shouted to Henry.

“But Miss Frye, please, I made it compliment you beauty,” Ignazio said to her. She opened the wall separator wearing a red dress with off the shoulder straps and large skirt that seemed to be three feet in diameter. Alex thought she looked very pretty, but very uncomfortable.

“Beauty or not, I can’t run in this infernal contraption with a petticoat that won’t fit through a door,” she said. Jacob found this hilarious and burst out laughing.

“You look like a cherry tomato sister,” he said.

“So help me Jacob, when I get over there,” she said threateningly. “I don’t see why I’ve got wear a dress when you and Henry get to wear assassin styled formal wear.”

“We need to be undercover to get the Shroud,” Henry reminded her. Alex then had an idea, he had his own Hunter clothes, but he remembered the Hunter’s Dream having extra clothes in various styles.

“Give me five minutes Evie, I just had an idea,” Alex said pressed the black button the transporter and disappeared.

“Magic,” Ignazio said in wonder.

“He better have something, this corset is really uncomfortable,” Evie mumbled. Alex then returned almost instantly holding folded up clothes.

“Try this on,” he said throwing them to her. She caught them and went behind the separator to change out of the dress. Ignazio then turned to Jacob.

“And you, I have your outfit right here, try it on,” he said leading Jacob over to an outfit similar to Henry’s a long black cloak with a hood attached, a black waistcoat with a blue silk back instead of green like Henry’s, a black cotton shirt, and black fine trousers with black leather boots.

“Impressive,” Jacob commented and went behind the other separator.

“But you sir, I did not make an outfit for you, Mr Green said you had your own finery to wear,” Ignazio said to Alex.

“Well I don’t know if this counts as finery, it might need some stitching though,” Alex said looking at his outfit. Ignazio observed the Hunters armour, it was fine indeed, but the coat had tears and needed fixing.

“Give me the coat sir, I can fix the tears and make it good as new,” Ignazio said. Alex took off the coat and gave it to Ignazio who walked away with it. Evie then stepped out from behind her separator.

“How do I look?” she asked. Alex looked at Evie and his heart skipped, she look stunning. The outfit fitted perfectly accentuating her curves.

“Like a Hunter,” he replied with a smile.

“It’s better than the dress anyway,” she said.

“Well with that sorted, we need to discuss something about the ball, Crawford Starrick is going to be there,” Henry told them. Alex figured as much that the most powerful Templar in London would be there.

“He must have had a reason to get an invite to the ball unless he’s using the ball for something else,” Alex said.

“You could be right, I fear he might try to steal the Shroud from under us, it’s important we try to find the vault before he does,” Henry said. When Alex’s coat was finished being repaired everyone changed and they left the tailor with their outfits for the ball.


	20. The Masquerade Ball

The night of the ball arrived. Everyone met at Alex’s lab to get two separate carriages to Buckingham Palace. Evie donned a black and silver Venetian mask while Alex had his scarf to hide his face.

“Are you okay?” Evie asked him.

“I’m fine, I just can’t shake this feeling that Crawford’s up to something,” Alex said. He knew Crawford was up to something, he just couldn’t figure out what, it couldn’t be to get the Shroud because Lucy was still looking for its location.

“Relax Alex,” Evie said before kissing him. It helped melt away the troubles a little, but he was still worried, he reached into his coat to read the invitation when he found the blood vial given to him by Iosefka. 

“Odd, I forgot I had this,” he said to Evie showing her the vial.

“What is it?” she asked.

“A special blood vial, Hunter’s use them to heal themselves if they get seriously injured fighting beasts, Iosefka gave this to me when I told her I was going to fight the Cleric Beast, she said ‘absorb the blood and be restored’, whatever that means,” he told her. They arrived at the palace ahead of Henry and Jacob and were led in by a guard. They headed to the ballroom where Alex presented the invitation given to him and they were let through, they then stood at the top of the stairs as a man at the bottom of the stairs announced.

“And now presenting Alexander Graham Bell, noted engineer and inventor, son of noted author and creator of Visible Speech, Alexander Melville Bell,” the man said.

“Your father is called Alexander?” Evie muttered to him.

“And my grandfather too, family tradition,” Alexander replied.

“And joining him, Miss Evelyn Frye,” the man said. Evie sighed and rolled her eyes, now everyone was going to start calling her Evelyn and Jacob wasn’t going to let her hear the end of it. Henry and Jacob joined them shortly after being announced to the ballroom when a wealthy couple approached them.

“Mr Bell, Miss Frye, how wonderful of you to join us this evening, will you be taking part in la valse de l’amour?” the woman asked them.

“What now?” Evie asked confused.

“La valse de l’amour, the waltz of love, it’s a point in the ball where one couple is selected to dance to an original romantic composure by the Marquis de Chalon, it changes every year,” Henry informed them.

“We shall be,” Alex said.

“Oh wonderful, we shall have to inform the Marquis at once,” the woman said and gracefully walked away with her partner in hand.

“Why did you say yes?” Evie asked curiously.

“What better way to look for Templar spies than dancing alone in front of the crowd, everyone will be watching, including Crawford and Lucy,” Alex said.

“A good plan, but now for the real plan, we will each take a section of the palace to search separately, when one leaves the rest stays, we reconvene when the search is done and the next person goes, that way we don’t arouse suspicion,” Henry told them. Jacob then saw Crawford and Lucy enter the ballroom.

“Don’t look now, but the Templars have arrived,” Jacob said to them.

“Announcing Sir Crawford Starrick of Starrick Industries and Lady Lucy Thorne,” the announcer said. Alex noticed the bird masks they were wearing, eerily similar to the plague mask Eileen wore in Yharnam. As they approached the ballroom floor Alex remembered he still had the pearl necklace from Pearl in his pocket.

“Jacob can I talk to you for a moment in private?” Alex said pushing Jacob aside.

“What now do you want my blessing to dance with Evie or something?” he asked jokingly.

“Remember when you told me to kill Pearl and I did,” Alex said.

“Yes,” Jacob replied.

“Well I sort of stole the pearl necklace off her when I killed her, I was planning to use it as a threat to Crawford if he tried to hire more men to kill me, now he’s here and I’ve got the pearls on me,” Alex said showing him the pearls stained with blood.

“Are you mad Aleck, if Crawford finds out, he’ll kill you, rumour has it he was distraught over her death,” Jacob told her.

“Crawford already wants me dead, this’ll just be another reason,” Alex replied.

“Well then look sharp because he’s heading this way,” Jacob said as they walked back to Henry and Evie as Crawford and Lucy walked up.

“Mr Green, Miss Frye and…yes, Alexander Graham Bell, my, my, what an interesting choice of attire this evening, you look like you came from another land, perhaps one obsessed with the idea of blood,” Crawford said with a side glance to Lucy who simply smirked at them.

“Thank you Mr Starrick, I’m sorry to hear of your cousin Miss Attaway, I do hope you catch the perpetrator who committed such a crime,” Alex said with a smirk himself.

“I thank you for your condolences, and yes I do plan to catch the perpetrator and perhaps slay him myself, enjoy the evening,” Crawford replied and walked away with Lucy. Evie was in awe at the tension in the air after Alex’s interaction with Crawford, but Jacob could tell Crawford was up to something.

“That was an interesting thing to happen,” Henry commented.

“We better blend in, Henry you’ve got the vault key, who gets where to search?” Evie asked.

“Right, I shall take the east wing, Evie you shall check the upper levels, Jacob you take the kitchens and the servants quarters, Alex you will search the west wing, I shall be back soon,” Henry told them and walked off towards the door leading to the east wing of the palace.

As the evening progressed, Evie, Jacob and Alex kept their distance from Crawford and Lucy, chatting with the upper class. Alex himself felt out of place, especially when they asked him where he lived, and he’d say by the Thames in Lambeth.

By the time it was time for La valse de l’amour, Henry and Jacob had found nothing and neither had Evie. Henry went to talk to Alex unaware Crawford was near listening to them.

“Aleck, I want you to check the west wing after the dance is over, Lord knows who is dancing, probably Crawford,” Henry said.

“You really think the vault is there?” Alex asked.

“It seems the most likely at this point, although I have another theory, but that’s if you find nothing in the west wing,” Henry told him.

“Got it,” Alex said. They returned to Evie and Jacob who were waiting for the marquis to announce who would be performing the dance.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, in honour of her majesty hosting this gracious event, it is time for La valse de l’amour, the waltz of love, many of you have put forth your names but only one couple will be dancing for the Queen and that is,” the marquis said putting his hand into a hat of names that a footman was holding. He pulled out a scrap of paper and read.

“Alexander Graham Bell and Evelyn Frye!” The crowd began to applause as Alex and Evie looked at each other, they had been selected to dance in front of the Queen.

“Are you ready?” Evie asked him.

“More than ready, follow my lead,” Alex said as the two of them walked towards the centre of the ballroom. The orchestra began to play a slow melody beginning with a harp. Everyone watched as Alex bowed before Evie and then held out his hand. She took it and they began to dance.

Like before when she first kissed Alex, everything seemed to drift away, it was just her and Alex dancing around the ballroom. As they danced, she realised, this was love. She loved him, and she was certain he loved her too. The song soon ended and they were left standing in the middle of the crowd which then erupted into applause. They bowed as people started to slowly return to the ballroom floor. Crawford then approached Alex.

“Well, well that was quite a dance Mr Bell,” he said holding out his hand to Alex. Alex went to shake it to be polite, but then Crawford pulled him in. “I was going to kidnap you, but killing you seems easier, I’ll be getting the shroud from the west wing now,” he muttered before stabbing Alex. The crowd went from idle chatter into shock as Crawford let go of Alex and gestured for Lucy and two other Templars to follow him. Alex fell to the ground, blood spreading over his coat. Jacob and Henry ran over to them, seeing him fall.

“Alex!” Evie cried kneeling beside him.

“Evie, he’s going to get the shroud,” he said but the pain was intense.

“Alex, no, you’ll be fine, someone get a doctor,” she cried as the crowd began to step back and someone ran to find a doctor. Alex felt everything growing distant.  
   
“Henry, Crawford’s heading to the west wing,” Alex said through the pain.

“Let’s go,” Jacob said as he and Henry began to make their way through the crowd to the west wing.

“Alex, please, you’re going to be alright, what about that blood vial?” she asked him, remembering the vial in his coat.

“I don’t know, the blade went deep,” Alex told her. Evie saw the vial in his coat and took it and placed it in his hand, closing his fingers around it.

“Please, Alex, don’t go,” she said feeling the tears starting to fall down her face. But Alex couldn’t talk, her voice began to fade and darkness began to enclose him, what happened to a hunter if they died?

“Evie, I…,” he gasped before breath left his body and the light faded in his eyes.

“Alex, Alex, no!” Evie cried “Don’t die, Alex, please don’t leave me” she burst into tears as the crowd could only watch in horror as they watched him die.

“I love you,” Evie whispered, her tears soaking into the scarf that hung around her neck, “I love you Alex.”

_Absorb the blood and be restored._

Suddenly Alex woke up, breathing in the air startling Evie and the crowd gathered.

“Alex?” she said confused. Alex sat up, he was alive, and the blood vial Evie had placed in his hand was gone.

“Evie, Iosefka’s blood vial must have restored me at the last minute…the shroud,” Alex said remembering.

“Starrick, we have to find them,” Evie said. They both stood up and ran through the crowd towards the west wing. Everyone was confused at what had happened, Alex had died in front of everyone, but suddenly came back to life.

In the west wing Jacob and Henry were chasing down Lucy and Crawford through the west wing. Henry was unsure if the vault even was here, but he still had his other theory. Alex and Evie soon caught up with them.

“Where are they?” Alex asked as they ran.

“Alex, you’re alive, but you got stabbed?” Henry said confused as they all stopped running.

“Blood vials restore Hunter’s, I had a brief glimpse of what death was like for a Hunter before the vial kicked in,” Alex told him.

“Interesting, you’ll have to tell me more when we find the Shroud, now follow me,” Henry said leading them down a different corridor.

“Where are we going?” Evie asked as they walked through the wing.

“I had a hunch that the Shroud might not be in the palace, but under it, there’s a secret passage in the library that leads to the sewers, as an escape route, if I’m right the vault will be found as well down through this passage,” Henry informed them.

“Well we better hurry up before Lucy and Crawford find us,” Jacob said as they reached the library.

“This way,” Henry said. He then began to scour the bookshelves, trying to remember which one was the secret passage whilst Evie, Jacob and Alex searched for anything that could be moved or act as a button. As Alex looked he sensed something in the room and looked at an old sconce still attached to the wall.

“Henry, that sconce, it’s the only one in the room,” he said. He grabbed the sconce and pulled it forward. The sconce moved and triggered one of the bookshelves to turn sideways slightly creating a pathway. The four them went through and the shelf closed behind them.

As they walked down the secret passage, Henry walked on ahead trying and saw a drop down. He leapt down and everyone followed and there they came across a door.

“Could it be?” Henry said as he examined the door. It had the assassin mark on the door. “It is, it’s the vault,” he exclaimed taking the key and placing it in the strange rectangular lock. It fit and something unlocked and they opened the door to see a small wooden box.

“The Shroud of Eden,” Evie whispered, they’d finally found it. Henry picked up the box and opened it up.

“It’s empty!”


	21. Edward Kenway’s Secret

“It’s empty!” Henry exclaimed.

“What!” Evie cried grabbing the box from Henry, it was empty except for a letter addressed to ‘the finder of the vault’. She opened the letter and began to read it.

“To whomever finds this letter, the Shroud of Eden of that which you seek is not here, when the vault was made I knew Templars would still find it and so I sought to hide it somewhere the Templars could never look for it. If you have learned about the mysterious assassin known as Gehrman, you will know that he disappeared. Well I know where he is, in the other realm known as Yharnam and that is where I have taken the shroud, I could not find Gehrman the assassin whom I was hoping to entrust the shroud with, instead I left in the hands of his mentor, a man by the name of Master Willem, Byrgenwerth Institute will protect the shroud just as the Healing Church protects the Blood of Eden, I am sorry to have disappointed you but if you seek the shroud look to the underworld of London for the door, sincerely Edward Kenway,” she read.

“Edward Kenway took the shroud?” Jacob said confused by the ordeal.

“No, he hid the Shroud in Byrgenwerth, Willem stayed at the institute whilst Gehrman left for the Hunter’s Dream and Laurence left for the church, Edward must have known about the college and knew the shroud would be safe in the hands of someone who knew the power of Eden well,” Henry said. The pieces were all firmly in place. “He knew where the doorway was, look to the underworld, it’s a clue the doorway is underneath London it must be beneath the City of London.”

“We should go then before the Templars find out about this,” Evie said. They wasted no time in leaving the vault and heading to the sewers underneath Westminster.

“We need to get to Old Yharnam, it’s where the plague began and thus should lead us to the Healing Church,” Alex told them as they found the exit of the sewers.

“I’m coming with you this time, I know my obsession with owning London was taking priority over this, but as of right now the Shroud is important,” Jacob told them.

“Nice to see you stepping up brother,” Evie said impressed with his change of heart.

“What can I say, I’d rather see Starrick burn that get the Shroud,” Jacob said.

They returned to Lambeth to Alex’s lab where he sent a message to Gehrman asking about Willem and the Shroud. He knew Gehrman would have answers, he was in Yharnam when the plague began. But something wasn’t right to Evie.

“Why did Edward take the shroud to Yharnam, and why did he leave all the clues behind to the vault?” she asked them. It didn’t make sense to her, if he changed the location of the hiding place, why did he keep the clues where they were?

“Why do people do anything Evie, Edward must have had a reason if he had the bloodstone shard in the vault,” Henry said.

“Eileen said Edward was the last assassin to go to Yharnam, but I don’t think he found the doorway, I think he was brought there by someone, another hunter perhaps,” Alex said. He had a hunch and he knew Old Yharnam was the key. If the plague started there and Edward hid the shroud at Byrgenwerth. “He was asked to come to Yharnam,” Alex said suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Jacob asked.

“When the Healing Church mixed Mergo’s tainted blood with the Blood of Eden, it created the beastly plague, Willem knew the power of the blood as did Gehrman, but when the plague began Gehrman was then beckoned to the Hunter’s Dream where he remains trapped or something. But Gehrman had no connections to the guild or a way to communicate with them, so he must have sent a Hunter to find Edward when he returned to London with the Shroud in his possession, but Gehrman didn’t want the Shroud in Hunter’s Dream where it could be taken by other Hunter’s so he must have instructed Edward to meet Master Willem at Byrgenwerth and leave the Shroud in his possession until it could be used to purify the Blood of Eden,” Alex told them.

“It makes sense, Edward could not take the Shroud to the Church because of Ludwig and the other Hunters of the Church,” Henry said as he thought over what Alex was saying.

“So why not send Willem to cleanse the blood with the shroud?” Jacob asked.

“I guess he couldn’t go near the Church,” Henry suggested.

In Buckingham Palace, Crawford and Lucy’s search came up empty. As they returned to his estate a Blighter called for them with a story of a giant rat in the south of the City of London. Intrigued by this information Lucy ordered they go to the location of the giant rat, she had an idea where the rat might have come from.

When they arrived Lucy ventured into the sewers, following the Blighter as he led her to the location of the rat, but then a man stopped them. He wore religious looking garbs with a saw hunter’s badge.

“Miss Lucy Thorne?” he asked.

“I am, who are you?” Lucy asked.

“I am Ludwig, first Hunter of the Healing Church, I am told you seek my Church,” he said to her.

“How do you know?” she replied.

“I’ve seen that Hunter known as Alex, heard the rumours that he seeks the Blood of Eden, but my Crows tell me that you seek me, to be part of the ritual,” Ludwig told her.

“I do Ludwig sir, I wish to bear the Great One Mergo, with no mistake this time,” Lucy said.

“Good, the Night of the Hunt is drawing near Miss Thorne, I will call for you when the Night is upon us, I shall confer with Laurence and the rest of the Ministers to see if you are worthy, remember this passage Miss Thorne, this doorway will lead you to Old Yharnam, I shall meet you there on the night of the hunt…in three days,” Ludwig said before he turned and the archway unveiled a mist like portal before him. He passed through it and the mist disappeared, making it seem like a normal sewer grate again.

“I’ve found it,” Lucy whispered.


	22. Old Yharnam

Dawn arrived in London and Henry, Jacob and Evie met Alex at his lab ready to leave for Yharnam. Alex was armed in his Hunter Armour, with his Hunter Axe and Hunter’s Pistol.

“Is everyone ready?” Alex asked them.

“I’ve got my finest firearm and my sharpest blade,” Jacob said showing off the Kukri Blade given to him by Henry.

“You’ll need it Jacob, Evie, I actually have something for you that Gehrman gave me in Hunter’s Dream it’s a Threaded Cane, I’ve seen you fight with Cane Swords so this should be no different,” Alex said handing her the Threaded Cane. She observed the Cane and extended it to see it was a whip as well covered in blades.

“Deadly, I could use this,” Evie said.

“Do we get fun items from Hunter’s Dream?” Jacob asked.

“I could get you a Saw Spear if you’re good,” Alex replied jokingly.

“I’m afraid I will not be able to journey with you, I have business to attend to in the city regarding the guild, but I wish you three luck, do you know when you will return?” Henry asked them. Alex hadn’t thought about it, but it was going to be a while Gehrman had explained that the Night of the Hunt was coming and to be wary of the Pale Blood moon.

“We’ll be gone a few days Henry, probably up until the Night of the Hunt in two days,” Alex said.

“Good luck then, Alex, Jacob, Evie,” Henry said. Alex nodded to Henry and pressed the black button on the transporter and they disappeared. “I hope they find the Shroud before Mergo is born,” Henry muttered.

Alex, Evie and Jacob arrived in Cathedral Ward. The Dweller and the man from Cathedral Ward were not alone, there were now two additional people, an old woman from Central Yharnam and a nun from the Church.

“Oh Sir Hunter, you’ve returned, who are your friends might I ask?” the Dweller asked curiously.

“Dweller, meet Evie and Jacob Frye, they’re assassins,” Alex told the Dweller. This surprised the Dweller.

“Assassin’s why it’s been nearly a hundred years since an assassin was here, he came here seeking Byrgenwerth and of course I told him he had to go through Hemwick and the Forbidden Woods to get to Byrgenwerth, it’s a long way to the lake you see,” the Dweller told them.

“We’re here to go to Old Yharnam, I know the plague began there thanks to the Healing Church and I want to know why,” Alex told the Dweller. Jacob couldn’t fathom how different Alex was in this creepy place.

“Oh you’ll want to see Djura then, he can help you with that, he’ll be atop one of the spires, he’s not hard to spot, good luck,” the Dweller said and went to attend to the refugees in the Ward. They left Cathedral Ward and walked down through a passage into Old Yharnam.

“I don’t get it Alex, you walk around this place so confidently, the creepy guy in the Ward, you act like he’s an old friend, the crazy guys outside, you walk past them like it’s nothing,” Jacob said confused by everything.

“They know I am no threat to them, it’s only when I come across beasts that I must hunt, as for the confidence, I guess you need it to survive here,” Alex replied as they entered Old Yharnam. He lit the lantern where some messengers appeared and continued into the ruined town. There were still fires scattered around the city, and although it had been burned, the buildings still stood strong. Then a voice called out to them.

“You there Hunter, why do you come here?” they demanded. Alex walked forward as two townsfolk afflicted with the plague glared at him.

“I seek the source of the plague and the route to Byrgenwerth, are you Djura?” Alex shouted to the person.

“I am, meet me on the top of the central tower, there will be a ladder to lead you up, we can talk there,” Djura called back. They slowly walked through the town, walking through abandoned buildings and finding vials and shards and a Rifle Spear which Jacob insisted on keeping. When they reached the tower Alex climbed the ladder to meet Djura, Evie and Jacob followed and were amazed by the view from the top of the tower.

“Wow, it’s beautiful,” Evie said.

“Isn’t it, the dusk makes it feel almost like before, before the Church burned the city to the ground, in denial that their precious blood was tainted,” Djura said.

“Then you know of the Blood of Eden,” Alex said.

“Aye, I do Hunter, the death of Mergo spelt doom for Yharnam, so you seek Byrgenwerth,” Djura said to Alex.

“I do, I hope to purify the Blood of Eden with the shroud being protected by Master Willem,” Alex replied.

“And your friends?”

“We’re assassins brought here to find the shroud,” Evie said.

“My advice, the Church of the Good Chalice, you’ll find a beast, but if you kill it, you’ll get something that could aid you, and take these,” Djura informed them handing Alex a pouch.

“What are they?” Alex asked him.

“Antidotes should you get poisoned, there are things outside of Old Yharnam that are dangerous, especially the beast in the Church,” Djura replied. They thanked Djura and returned the streets of Old Yharnam, as they walked the streets, the townsfolk who had fully turned into beasts glared at them, but Alex knew that they would not attack. When they reached the edge of the town they found themselves in the old graveyard of the Church of the Good Chalice.

“I’m not sure about this,” Evie said cautiously as they approached the church.

“Oh it’s nothing, it’s just a graveyard nothing different from the ones in London and I assure you the church will be no different,” Jacob said confidently walking up to the church. He walked in and saw the Blood-Starved Beast which then roared at him. “I take it back, this is very different, Alex!” Jacob cried running back out. Evie couldn’t help but laugh at her brother run away from the large beast. Alex readied the axe and walked in, the beast crept back into a corner as Evie took the Threaded Cane and transformed it into the whip.

“Are you ready to fight like a Hunter?” Alex asked her.

“I am,” Evie replied with confidence. Alex threw a pebble at the beast to get its attention and it came charging towards them. Alex dodged the beast as it swung its claw towards him and shot the beast, it winced in pain as Alex then performed a visceral attack, weakening the beast.

“Wow, what was that?” Jacob exclaimed as he readied the Rifle Spear.

“Visceral attack, it’s powerful,” Alex replied as he swung the axe against the beast. It leapt back and cried out before spewing a cloud of poison. “Get back!” Alex cried, Jacob didn’t hear it and got swept up into the cloud and fell to the ground.

“What is this?” Jacob asked.

“Evie distract the beast and draw it away, just don’t let it hit you,” Alex told her as he ran towards Jacob. Evie coaxed the beast away swinging the Threaded Cane against the beast to taunt it. Alex gave an antidote pill to Jacob.

“I said get back,” Alex said to Jacob as he helped him up.

“I tried to,” was all Jacob said as he picked up the Rifle Spear.

“Aleck!” Evie cried as the beast cornered her. Alex turned the axe into a Halberd Axe and ran at the beast, he leapt in the air and slammed the axe down onto the beast’s head it screeched and hit the floor and dissolved into ash.

“Thanks,” Evie said. Alex dug through the ashes of the Blood-Starved Beast and picked up a Chalice.

“The Beast was holding onto this Chalice, I wonder what it’s for,” Alex said as he observed the Chalice. It was a rusted gold colour with patterns engraved into the cup.

“Are you alright Jacob?” Evie asked her brother, he looked slightly pale.

“I’ll be fine, I just…no, excuse me,” Jacob replied and went behind a pillar where he began to throw up.

“He’ll be fine, the antidotes cured the poison, I guess they just have a small side effect,” Alex said walking towards to the entrance of the church. He wondered what significance the Chalice held.

“Excellent young Hunter,” a voice said at the entrance of the church. “But I’m afraid you won’t be going anywhere with that Chalice.”

“Ludwig,” Alex said, he recognised the church garbs he was wearing. Ludwig laughed sinisterly.

“You know of me, then you know what I protect, what I shall be using for the ritual when the Night of the Hunt arrives. Oedon hunts for a surrogate and when the likeness of Queen Yharnam is found, Mergo’s birth will be successful, no nightmares, no tainted blood, no plague, no death, just the power of a Great One within the Healing Church,” Ludwig told them.

“Ludwig, the Blood of Eden is corrupt because of this ritual, the Church using the blood of a dead Great One ruined the blood, it’s why the plague was caused, you’re just sending Yharnam to its doom,” Alex said.

“Mergo will save Yharnam, I can make sure of it, that fool Willem knew nothing of the power of the Blood of Eden,” Ludwig said. “And I will be taking that Chalice.”

“You’ll have to kill me to get it,” Alex said. Ludwig took out his Holy Blade and pointed it at Alex.

“And I shall do that, for the Church,” Ludwig said and swung the blade, Alex dodged and swung the axe, but then Ludwig parried and knocked the axe out of his hand and pushed Alex to the floor. The Chalice rolled across the floor and Ludwig picked it up. “You stupid Hunter, what were you hoping to accomplish with the Blood of Eden, you can’t purify it, you can try, but you won’t succeed,” he said to Alex and then vanished in a cloud of white mist. Alex sat up, the Chalice was gone.

“Who was that?” Jacob asked as he moved from behind the pillar he was throwing up against.

“Ludwig of the Healing Church, he took the Chalice, but I do know one thing, he’s not after the Shroud, we might still have a chance,” Alex said standing up.

“What did he mean by Queen Yharnam’s likeness?” Evie asked as they left the church.

“Queen Yharnam was the original surrogate for Mergo, her mistake resulted in Mergo being slain because he could only live in a nightmare, I guess the Healing Church are obsessed with the ritual being done correctly, that they goes as far as to find a woman who resembles the original Pthumerian Queen,” Alex explained.

“Well he’s not going to find one so easily if the Night of the Hunt isn’t far off,” Jacob said following after them.

“That is true, but our priority right now is Byrgenwerth,” Alex said. The three of them walked away from the church and down a small lane till they found a sign that said Hemwick Charnel Lane.


	23. The Witch Of Hemwick

They passed the gate into Hemwick Charnel Lane and found a mass of gravestones. Death had made its mark in the lane, as they walked they noticed it was oddly quiet until they came to the central graveyard and noticed several strange women wearing long grey cloaks taking the eyes from several fresh corpses.

“Yes, sisters the Witch will be pleased with our findings, she shall present them to the Church and the ritual will take place, but a woman is needed, one of virtue, innocence and youth to carry the child of the Great One, to become part of Yharnam history,” one of the sisters said.

“Yes, we must preserve and protect, for the Great One’s arrival, but who is of virtue, innocence and youth?” a second sister asked. A third one then spotted Alex, Evie and Jacob walking through the graveyard and gracefully glided over to them.

“What do you seek travellers, and you…so pretty,” the sister said noticing Evie. She was slightly unnerved by the grave women, who then glided over to examine her like something from a museum.

“Yes, very youthful, not more than a couple of decades old, not particularly virginal, I suspect the Hunter here of that deed,” one of the sisters said glaring at Alex which prompted a horrified look from Jacob.

“You took my sisters virtue,” he said with disgust.

“Do we really need to discuss this,” Evie muttered as the sister poked and prodded her. “Listen church women, we seek passage to Byrgenwerth to see Master Willem,” she told them.

“No, no, beauty must not venture into Byrgenwerth, no, the witch is for you, take them too,” one of the sisters said and began to forcefully escort them towards the Witch’s Abode.

When they reached the abode, the Hemwick Witch stood waiting for them.

“My sisters did you collect the eyeballs?” the Witch asked the hags.

“Even better, we brought you a surrogate to offer to Ludwig and two pairs of fresh eyes for the ritual,” one of the sisters said. The Witch examined the three of them, who knew protesting would lead to their deaths. The Witch them examined Evie, looked her up and down and nodded slowly.

“Yes, she is perfect, youth, beauty, she lacks virginity thanks to the Hunter, but her womb is perfect for Mergo to grow and be born from,” the Witch said.

“No thanks, I don’t want that, find another surrogate,” Evie said trying to walk away, but the sisters grabbed her.

“Send those two to the dungeons, and take the surrogate to the back room,” the Witch ordered. Two sisters seized Alex and Jacob and walked them down to the dungeons and locked them up.

“You’ll die before the Night begins,” the sisters said and left laughing. Jacob sighed and sat down on the floor.

“Well I don’t want to say we screwed up, but we’re fucked,” Jacob said. Alex rolled his eyes and started examining the bars on the door.

“We’re not fucked Jacob, we just need to kill the witch and the hags and get down to the Forbidden Woods,” Alex said as he kicked one of the bars and it came loose.

“How do-...you’ve changed Aleck, I remember when you’d talk nonsense about science, now you talk nonsense about nonsense,” Jacob said sarcastically. Alex kicked in another bar and slowly made his way out of the cell.

“And yet I just got us a way out, you can stay here if you want, I killed the Cleric Beast by myself, I can take on some scary old hags,” Alex said with a smirk, Jacob stood up and left the cell.

“You can’t do it alone,” Jacob said readying the Rifle Spear. They both left the dungeon and went back up into the abode and kicked in the door of the back room. Evie was tied up as the sisters worked over a strange cauldron of liquid.

“Let my girlfriend go, you haggard old bitches,” Alex shouted to the hags.

“Get them!” the Witch screeched. The hags ran at Jacob and Alex who began to fight them, Jacob killed one hag as another grabbed him and tried to stab him with a dagger. He kicked the hag off him and stabbed her with the saw spear as Alex went for the head Witch. Alex threw a pebble at the Witch who screamed and then began to transform, eyes growing of the witch like hideous growths. Jacob coaxed the hags away leaving Alex to deal with the Witch.

“I said let her go,” Alex said.

“No, the surrogate must remain pure for the ritual, I will not let you defile her again,” the Witch said. Alex turned the axe into a Halberd and stared at the Witch.

“Then I’ll just have to kill you,” he said and swung the axe hitting the Witch. She screamed out and swiped at Alex and cast a poison cloud which he dodged away from. Evie struggled against the knots of the rope and found it coming lose, she still had the Threaded Cane and loosened it and her hand so she could transform it into the razor whip. With a flick of her wrist, the whip wrapped itself around the neck of the Witch and began to choke her.

“Now Aleck,” Evie said. Alex swung the axe and chopped the head off of the Witch, there was a lasting scream and the Witch turned into dust. Jacob untied Evie and the three of them looked down at the dust of the Witch.

They left the abode and continued through Hemwick Charnel Lane, but Evie had a question.

“How did you two escape so easily, it wasn’t even ten minutes when they captured you?” she asked them.

“Alex is smarter than he seems,” Jacob said with a grin.

Inside the top floor of the Cathedral Ward, Ludwig approached the Wet Nurse who was protecting an empty baby pram. It was a large phantom-like figure with four arms and a long trailing cloak when it saw Ludwig it moved close to the pram.

“I have brought the Chalice for the ritual, you shall have your child and the Church will have its Great One, we are still missing the Blood of Eden being protected in the Loft by Micolash and of course the likeness of Queen Yharnam,” Ludwig told the Wet Nurse. It said nothing.

“Oh but don’t you worry, there is a woman who has offered to bear the child, she lacks youth, but when did youth stop Queen Yharnam, she is still of child bearing age, we shall speak when the Night is here,” Ludwig said to the nurse.

From Hunter’s Dream Gehrman watched as Alex, Evie, and Jacob made their way to the Forbidden Woods, he had seen them lose the Chalice, but it was clear that Ludwig did not want the Shroud of Eden.

“He is strong Gehrman, the Moon Presence is pleased with his progress,” the Doll said to Gehrman.

“You are right, he is becoming a Hunter, and a strong one at that, but there is more, the Night of the Hunt is but one night away and when the time comes Alexander will be given the opportunity to purify the Blood of Eden, stop the ritual and slaughter the Wet Nurse that desires Mergo’s birth to happen, but he must tread carefully one false move and Yharnam and the Hunter’s Dream is doomed,” Gehrman replied.

“Have faith Gehrman, Alexander is strong, he will do the will of the Moon Presence, so many Hunters have tried and failed to do this, but he can,” the Doll assured Gehrman.

“I hope you’re right, the Moon Presence picked him, a mere mortal from another realm, for a reason and we must honour the will of the Moon Presence,” Gehrman said as Alex, Evie, and Jacob arrived at the entrance to the Forbidden Woods.


	24. Byrgenwerth

It was Dawn over the land when Alex, Evie and Jacob reached Byrgenwerth Institute, it was a long journey but they had made it. And the Night of the Hunt was merely hours away. Alex opened the doors to the institute, it was quiet, dark, and empty.

“Do you think anyone’s even here?” Jacob asked as they wandered through the large and illustrious hallways, adorned with books and statues.

“The Shroud could be anywhere,” Evie said, her voice echoed against the silence and when they stopped, footsteps continued.

“Why have you come?” a woman asked emerging from the darkness.

“I am Alexander, I am a Hunter seeking Master Willem I was informed that he would be here,” Alex said calmly to the woman. She walked forward, holding a Threaded Cane and nodded gracefully.

“You are indeed a Hunter it is easy to recognise you by your attire, I should have known, come, Master Willem has been expecting you,” she said.

“Who are you?” Jacob asked, suspicious that a lone hunter was here at the institute.

“I am Mildred, I was Willem’s apprentice, and the Hunter sworn to protect him from the Church, it is good to see allies against this mad ritual,” Mildred replied as they walked through the institute.

“You know what Ludwig plans to do then,” Alex said.

“Aye, that I do, Laurence never feared the blood and this Hunter Ludwig seeks the power of the blood, he is a fool, he knows that the Blood of Eden was tainted by the death of Mergo, yet he plans to do it all again and destroy everything if it means getting his precious Great One and I’ve heard rumours that he has found his surrogate,” Mildred explained to them.

“Who could…Lucy,” Evie said realising that she would have a hand in this.

“If that is the one pursuing this mad ritual, she has only herself to blame if it causes her death, ah here we are,” Mildred said opening a large set of doors leading to an outside courtyard. The Moon was shining brightly through the dawn and Master Willem was watching it from his rocking chair.

“She calls out to me, but she knows I am not the one to come, another will come and do her will,” he said a strange trance.

“Master Willem, I have bought the Hunter,” Mildred told him. Willem turned to Alex and his eyes widened.

“Hunter, the one they call Alexander, do you hear the child cry, do you hear the moon call out to you…yes, you’ve got the scent of the moon in your blood, you are the one she chose,” Willem said.

“I do not understand,” Alex said. Willem pointed to the moon.

“The moon is calling out the Hunter’s, beckoning them to the Dream, she has chosen you to be the one to stop Mergo, Mergo was never meant to exist, he is a hybrid of humanity and ethereal power, something that should never go together, the First Civilisation realised this, which is why they left Eden,” Willem explained. This took Evie’s attention and she stood in front of the frail old man.

“What do you mean that’s why the First Civilisation left Eden?” she asked curiously.

“Ah, you bear the mark of the Assassin, you know that the Pieces of Eden were separated, but there was one Oedon, he was one of the First Civilisation who realised that their creation the Blood of Eden had too much power, so when the war began, he and six others left and created the land of Yharnam. In order to lock the blood away, he sacrificed his physical form to exist only in voice in order to keep it safe, but then I, being the fool that I was, found the blood in the Labyrinths, I knew it was powerful and to be feared, but in releasing the blood, I unleashed the Great Ones and it was there that Laurence founded the Healing Church and the Choir seeking to converse with them,” Willem explained.

“Who were these others from the First Civilisation?” Evie asked him.

“When Oedon sacrificed his form, the others became part of the higher plane of existence, they became the Great Ones, and one is down there, he is Rom, the Vacuous Spider, but Hunter let me say something,” Willem said. Alex walked over to Willem.

“You are the one who must purify the Blood of Eden, it will not end the plague, that has done too much damage, but take the Shroud, for you are the one to save Yharnam, get thee to Iosefka’s clinic and find the key to the Choir, it will be on the imposter of Iosefka, it shall lead you to the one who protects the cradle,” Willem said presenting the Shroud to Alex, he took it with care and passed it to Evie.

“How do you know this?” Alex asked.

“Because I have insight, and insight is both a gift and a curse,” Willem said. He then turned back to the moon and began to stare at it again.

“Iosefka an imposter, but I’ve met her, she gave me the blood vial that saved my life,” Alex said unsure of Willem’s words.

“That was the real Iosefka but word has it that she disappeared two days ago and has been replaced by an imposter,” Mildred told them. Willem was silent, he had gone back into a trance staring at the moon. “I shall lead you out.”

The walk back to Cathedral Ward was a quiet one. Evie had learned so much about the First Civilisation that she never realised, and wondered was the Shroud that important. As she examined the gold silk cloth, she looked at Alex who seemed upset over Iosefka.

“Iosefka cared about the Hunters, about the people of Yharnam, she cared and…I don’t get why someone would want her gone,” Alex asked. As they walked, Alex wondered what would happen when the Night of the Hunt was over, did Yharnam go back to normal, did life resume?

When they reached Cathedral Ward, Jacob returned to London to find Charlie and Evie returned to tell Henry what she learned from Willem. Alex decided to stay behind, he had a lot on his mind.

“I’ll see you later,” Evie said kissing him before she left with Jacob and Alex’s transporter. When they were gone, Alex sat on the floor near the lantern and the Dweller approached him.

“Why so glum Hunter?” The Dweller asked.

“Willem told me a lot of information, how the Moon is beckoning me to stop Mergo and purify the Blood of Eden, and…I honestly don’t think I’m cut out to be the chosen Hunter, I mean look at me, I’m not strong, I’m smart, but not smart enough to go up against ancient beings worshipped by the Healing Church, and Evie…I haven’t even told her I love her,” Alex told the Dweller. The Dweller understood his concern and worry.

“Son, the Moon Presence is our protector, she is a Great One who watches over the Hunters, she protects the world from the rest of the Great Ones, the one who has thwarted Mergo’s birth a thousand times over, but this time…this time she is too weak to do it, that’s why when the Blood Ministration performed the blood transfusion on you, she made sure to pass into your blood some of her power,” he told Alex.

“How do you know this?” he asked the Dweller. The Dweller sighed and showed him a Saw Hunter’s Badge.

“I was a Hunter many moons ago, but then I got old and I stopped dreaming, when I asked Gehrman he said that sometimes a Hunter just stops dreaming, so I decided to stay here in Cathedral Ward, offering advice and sanctuary to any weary traveller or Hunter, like you and your friends. I can’t tell you what to do Alex, you must make that decision, do you obey the will of the Moon Presence and slay Mergo and prevent the ritual…or do you leave and let Ludwig win,” the Dweller said. Alex knew he was right, he had to slay Mergo, prevent the ritual, finish the dream, but he was scared to do it alone.

“And what of Evie, when I stood on the brink of death I saw what happens to Hunter’s when they die and when I saw it, I realised, I never got to tell her I loved her, she is my…she is my everything, I love her,” Alex told the Dweller.

“Then tell her, before it’s too late,” the Dweller said.

“I gave her my transporter though,” Alex said.

“There is still the doorway, it’s in Old Yharnam, they build the clock tower around the doorway, disguised it as a broom closet, I actually thought it was one too, until I went to get a mop to clear up some blood after one of my fellow Hunter’s got impaled by a Rifle Spear,” the Dweller said. Old Yharnam wasn’t far, he could make it.

He left Cathedral Ward and was at Old Yharnam within a few minutes. Djura spotted him and waved.

“Fellow Hunter, you are well,” he called out to Alex. Alex waved back and walked towards the clock tower in the centre of the town. He passed a man who was almost transformed into a beast.

“The Night draws near, enjoy the Hunt,” he said nodding respectfully to Alex. Alex approached the clock tower and opened the door. It was empty and there was another door. He walked to the door and opened it, instead of a broom closet he saw a white mist and walked through it. When he found himself on the other side of the mist, he saw it was the London sewers and looked behind him to see a regular sewer grate.

“Amazing,” he whispered.


	25. Two Different Plans

Alex returned to the train and found Evie telling Henry how Alex saved her from the Witch of Hemwick.

“And then Aleck walks in and says ‘let my girlfriend go, you haggard old bitches’ it was quite something,” Evie said.

“Did you tell Henry about how Jacob walked into the Church of the Good Chalice, took one look at the Blood-Starved Beast and nearly pissed himself with fear,” Alex asked.

“She did, though she said Jacob ‘practically ran out screaming’ your version sounds more convincing,” Henry said.

“It does, but we also learned some history of Eden, it turns out that Oedon was a member of the First Civilisation, he took the Blood of Eden and left with several others when the war began, he knew the blood was too powerful and in sacrificing himself to protect it, he and the other were elevated to a higher plane of existence, thus becoming the Great Ones,” Evie explained. Henry was intrigued by this information.

“Interesting, members of the First Civilisation reaching a higher level of existence, it’s not possible, what Eden failed to do for so long when they created the Pieces of Eden,” Henry replied.

“Oedon must have figured that protecting the Blood of Eden required sacrifice, so as to keep it away from Eden and the Templars, Edward Kenway must have known this as well when he gave the Shroud to Willem,” Alex said.

“Interesting, and you have the Shroud as well, but what comes next?” Henry asked.

“Next comes, the Night of the Hunt, I go to Iosefka’s Clinic, I kill the imposter and take the key to Upper Cathedral Ward, that will lead me to Mergo,” Alex informed Henry.

“Well good luck, I shall journey with you for this,” Henry said.

“A good idea, we’ll need to find Jacob, and then travel to the clinic,” Alex said.

“Jacob’s in Whitechapel with his boyfriend, luckily, we’re headed there next,” Agnes said from the other carriage.

In Crawford Starrick’s office, Ludwig stood with Lucy explaining to them the ritual for birthing Mergo.

“The Chalice will hold the blood which Lucy shall consume, the bloodshot eyeballs mixed in will grant her insight, Oedon’s presence in Cathedral Ward will be summoned by the Wet Nurse and beckoned to allow Lucy to conceive Mergo. When the ritual is complete she shall be with child, what is good is Mergo will be born within a matter of hours, and when he is born, the Wet Nurse will allow him to drink the Blood of Eden and he will grow strong and become a Great One,” Ludwig explained to Crawford.

“And what of the Shroud?” he asked curiously.

“That fool Hunter will have the Shroud, you shall be there to take it from him, stop him from interrupting the ritual, you will have your Shroud when you kill him,” Ludwig told Crawford. Crawford was pleased with this, to get the Shroud directly from Alex would be good his first attempt to kill him was foiled by blood magic.

“Excellent Sir Ludwig, it is refreshing to see that a Templar was protecting a precious part of Eden from the Assassins, imagine what the Healing Church could do for London,” Crawford said.

“Yes Crawford, with the ritual complete the Church can abandon the desolate Yharnam and bring Mergo to London, we can rule the city and create Templar Hunters,” Ludwig said. Crawford’s dream of controlling London, it seemed, could be achieved with the help of Ludwig and the Healing Church.

“When do we leave?” Crawford asked eagerly.

“Sunset,” Ludwig replied.

In Whitechapel, Jacob and Charlie were sitting on the roof of one of their occupied holds watching the street eating bread from the nearby bakery.

“It was strange, the whole place felt like it was a darker version of London, everything seemed inhuman and the beasts…the beast in the church, I swear it wanted to eat me,” Jacob told Charlie.

“Just like the giant rat?” Charlie asked.

“Exactly like the giant rat Charlie, the Witches were the creepiest part, they wanted to kidnap Evie for some weird ritual,” Jacob replied.

“I can imagine, but London was quiet while you were gone, well except for that brief gang fight in Westminster,” Charlie told Jacob.

“There was a gang fight in Westminster…and I missed it?” Jacob said in surprise.

“And yours truly led the fight and killed the Templar in control of Westminster, we own it now,” Charlie said with a smug grin.

“I love you Charlie,” Jacob said giving him a long kiss.

“I love you too Jake,” Charlie replied.

Down on the street Alex spotted Jacob and Charlie, but he ignored them so he could talk to Evie.

“Evie, can we talk?” Alex asked.

“Sure, what about?” Evie replied. Alex sighed, wondering how he was going to phrase it.

“When I went to Yharnam and faced that Cleric Beast, I was terrified, I thought I was going to die and before I faced it, I realised something, I realised that I’d do anything for you, kill a beast, find the Shroud, I’d do anything because well…I love you, I only wish I’d said it sooner,” Alex told her. Evie smiled at him and took his hand.

“I love you too, when I thought you had died in the palace, I thought I’d lost you forever and I don’t want to lose you,” she replied. It felt relieving to finally tell him the truth, how she felt scared for almost losing him, how she didn’t want to lose him. She loved him. They reached Jacob and Charlie and told them that they have to leave for Yharnam soon, Jacob was reluctant to go, but he knew Charlie would be capable of leading the Rooks.

“Alright, I’ll come with you, Charlie while we’re gone, you’ll be leading the Rooks, talk to Ned about any incoming shipments or cargos we can profit from, we need enough money to buy that pub Charles Dickens is always at in Southwark,” Jacob said to him as he leapt off the building and onto the ground.

“Will do Jake,” Charlie said also leaping off the building and climbing into a carriage with three other Rooks.

I love that man, and to think I first met him by tripping over a cart,” Jacob said fondly.

“Cute, let’s go meet Henry in Lambeth,” Evie said.

Sunset approached London and Evie, Jacob, Henry and Alex all left for Cathedral Ward. The Dweller greeted them when they arrived, and told them that there was a way to get to Iosefka’s Clinic through the woods.

“In the Forbidden Woods there is a cave, in that cave is a ladder, it will lead you around the back of the clinic, follow two other ladders and you will arrive at the back door of the clinic for the front door shall be locked, but be warned, there are rumours that the imposter has been kidnapping people and turning them into strange blue monsters with bulging heads, oh I shudder to think of them and their horrific appearances,” the Dweller said concerned for his new friends.

“Don’t worry Dweller, we’ll be careful, if this imposter truly is one, she’ll most likely try to kill me before I get the key,” Alex said.

“Yes and one other thing Alex, when the bell tolls, the lanterns will stop working, it is tradition for the lanterns to stop working on the Night of the Hunt, you will have to walk back to Cathedral Ward, evil shall respawn and those you thought friendly will try to kill you,” the Dweller said. Alex knew the Dweller was telling the truth, he trusted his judgment.

“Thank you, we shall see you soon with the key,” Alex said and lit the lantern transporting them to the Forbidden Woods.

“This place is extraordinary,” Henry said amazed by the nature of the woods.

“It’s creepy,” was all Jacob said.

“Come on, the cave should be this way,” Alex said. They walked through the darkened woods, the night was drawing in and the moon was starting to turn a faint pinkish colour. But somehow Alex knew that the Moon Presence was watching him, guiding him, trusting him to succeed in its will. When they found the cave, they found a large boar guarding the entrance.

“What is that?” Henry asked concerned and slightly scared.

“A Maneater Boar, large disgusting creatures, Jacob a little help,” Alex said gesturing to Jacob. Jacob nodded and readied the Rifle Spear and the two of them approached the Boar, it snorted heavily and then squealed in rage and began to charge towards them. “Now,” Alex cried. Jacob dodged to the side as Alex leapt over the Boar and stuck the axe into its back. The Boar squealed again as Jacob then stabbed it from the side and together they both killed the Boar.

“Well done,” Henry said impressed as he wiped a splash of blood off his clothes. They entered the cave and noticed ogres inside wandering aimlessly. They crept quietly though the water, careful not to get their attention and reached the safety of the passage leading to the ladder. Alex climbed up first, then Evie, then Jacob and finally Henry. As they climbed a corpse suddenly flew down past them.

“What the-,” Evie cried.

“I guess the rumours are true then,” Alex murmured as he climbed out of the cave. The Dweller was right they were around the back of the Clinic. Alex carefully kept a watch out for anything that looked unfriendly or could attack. And then he reached the Carrion Crows, who cawed and screeched loudly at them. Evie took out the cane and began to attack each Crow with precision and speed, killing each one.

“At least they’re not rats,” she said with a smile at Alex.

They soon reached the back of the clinic, it was quiet. Alex opened the door to find the clinic dark and empty, as he walked through the hallways, he found the room in which his blood transfusion was done, it was empty, except for blood stained instruments everywhere.

“What happened here?” he asked curiously as he walked through the back of the clinic to a part he had never seen.

“Ah Moon-scented Hunter, why have you come?” a silvery voice asked from up a large spiral staircase. Straight away, Alex knew that it wasn’t the real Iosefka, the real Iosefka had a lower tone.

“Where is Iosefka?” he demanded.

“I am Iosefka silly, have you come for a blood vial?” the voice asked.

“Enough games, I know you are not the real Iosefka, now come out from your hiding place,” Alex said growing irritated with this game.

“As you wish,” the voice said. Instead of the aged, grey-haired woman who gave him that special blood vial, a young woman with brown hair and white robes walked down the stairs.

“It’s a pity you Hunters never play nice, I was hoping we could be friends,” the fake Iosefka said.

“And I was hoping to get the key to Upper Cathedral Ward,” Alex replied. The fake Iosefka laughed and produced a key from around her neck.

“Like this one?” she asked.

“Exactly the one,” Evie said. Iosefka put the key back and then pulled out two blades from behind her back.

“Sorry Hunter’s but Ludwig specifically said not to let you interfering brats stop the ritual,” she said and lunged forward to attack. Alex dodged her attack and swung the axe, hitting her in the stomach. The fake Iosefka coughed blood and fell to the ground.

“I’m wounded, and badly, why would you seek to destroy the salvation of Yharnam,” she said.

“I seek to stop the destruction of Yharnam,” Alex said before killing her with the axe. He grabbed the key from around her neck.

“Come on, we have to face the aqueducts again to reach Cathedral Ward,” Alex said as the bells chimed outside of the clinic. Henry was amazed at Alex’s talent with the axe, but he also noticed the gleam of red in his eyes, it seemed that the Hunt was starting to get to Alex.

When they left the Clinic, they noticed the sky had changed. The clouds were a mixture of orange and purple and the moon was now a blood red. Alex then heard a voice whisper to him.

“The Paleblood has been found, now destroy that yet which has not been born,” he heard the voice say. Was it the Moon Presence, giving him information on the Night that was starting to begin?


	26. The Hunt Begins

The Night of the Hunt had changed Yharnam dramatically, the once friendly townsfolk were now paranoid and slowly turning into beasts from the once dormant plague. Alex immediately sought out Gilbert who was waiting outside his house, his beast-like appearance was hideous.

“Hunter, I would be wary, the Hunt has begun and as you can see, the presence of the moon is affecting the plague, it usually lies dormant until the Night of the Hunt, but then you succumb to it, be careful and good hunting and watch out for the pig,” Gilbert said before he leapt back through the window and locked it. They walked down past his house to a bridge and as they crossed it, a townsfolk ran at them, crazed and angry wielding a saw cleaver. Alex dodged the man and Jacob took him down with a stab of the Rifle Spear.

“This town is finished,” the townsperson said before they died.

“This town is crazy,” Jacob said as they continued on towards the aqueducts. They reached the town square where a large group of townsfolk were gathered for the Hunt.

“We better be careful, they don’t look friendly,” Alex warned them as they carefully approached them. One of the townsfolk turned and saw them but did nothing, he simply glared at the four of them. They reached fountain plaza where crows screeched at their presence. It wasn’t a pleasant sight to behold as they pecked and tore at the flesh of a dead townsperson.

When they reached the aqueducts they saw Eileen getting ready for the Hunt, she spotted Alex and knew what he was doing.

“You are still alive then Hunter, it is good to see you again, and you Miss Frye,” Eileen said bowing to them.

“Greetings Eileen, I am Henry and this is Jacob, we are journeying to Cathedral Ward to prevent the ritual,” Henry said bowing back.

“You are on a journey but ‘tis Alex who will be preventing the ritual, the Moon she calls to the Hunters telling us of the ritual, our jobs are to keep the Hunt successful, I wish you luck, but the rats in the aqueducts are particularly vicious tonight, so be careful,” Eileen told them.

“Great, that’s just what I wanted to hear,” Evie muttered sarcastically. They entered the aqueducts and found a huge swarm of Giant Rats in the sewer, crawling into every available space they could find.

“I can see why you hate rats now Evie that is…that is a sight behold,” Henry said as he stared down at the rats. Alex opened his satchel and found some prepared Molotov cocktails, his time in Yharnam had allowed him to collect different kinds of items to and Molotov’s were one of them. He lit the Molotov and threw it down. The rats then all burst in flames, the fire spreading across all of them. The smell of charred rat drifted up into the air, Evie covered her mouth and nose, the smell was worse than the Hunter corpse they found there.

“That is disgusting,” she commented. Alex chuckled and climbed down the ladder to the bottom of the sewer, it was a disgusting mess of burnt fur and flesh. He reached the end of the aqueduct and jumped down into the main sewer, more corpses began to awaken and crawl towards him and he began to kill them with his axe. Henry followed after assassinating one as he leapt down. Evie and Jacob followed and helped them out, till the water was filled with a dead rotted corpses.

“Do you hear that?” Jacob asked, stopping briefly. He could hear a faint squealing sound from the end of the sewer tunnel.

“That’ll be the Goliath Pig, they’re not the friendliest of creatures,” Alex replied as they walked down the tunnel. And sure enough at the end of the tunnel stood are large angry Goliath Pig, it looked at Alex and as if it recognised him, squealed angrily and charged.

“Oh shit, run!” Jacob cried running back out of the tunnel. Evie and Henry followed not wanting to be crushed by the pig as Alex stood his ground and watched as it ran towards him. It squealed angrily and Alex swung the axe, it struck the pig stopping it in its tracks and fell sideways. Alex swung the axe again and again killing it. Then as if by a strange magic, the pig burst into dust.

“How on earth?” Henry asked confused.

“I’m not sure, the larger stronger beasts do the same, they disappear as if they were no more than living nightmares,” Alex replied, unsure of the explanation for its disappearance.

They arrived in the graveyard of Oedon Chapel, where Gascoigne and his two daughters were, they were wielding small swords each.

“Gascoigne, you’re out tonight,” Alex said.

“It’s him, it’s the Hunter who I gave the box to, thank you for finding our dad sir, thank you so much,” said one of the girls.

“Cleric Slayer, it is good to see you, and your friends too, these are my daughters Clarice, and Violet, I am leaving them and Arianna with the Dweller tonight, to help guard the citizens of Cathedral Ward while I hunt in the Forbidden Woods with two fellow Hunters,” Gascoigne replied.

“When the Hunt is over, father is going to train us to be like him, and then we can fight too,” Violet said. She wore a white ribbon in her hair and clutched at two swords tightly, whilst Clarice held one sword and wore a red ribbon.

“I have to journey to Upper Cathedral Ward and prevent the ritual,” Alex said.

“I heard, the Moon Presence has spoken to every Hunter, she has told them all that you have been selected to prevent the ritual, I hope it goes well Hunter, the blood needs to be purified in order for this land to feel whole again,” Gascoigne said.

“I will do my best Father Gascoigne,” Alex said bowing to him. They walked into Cathedral Ward and found the Dweller, he was eating with the man Gascoigne had helped rescue when he found Arianna. Arianna greeted the girls with a hug and the Dweller saw Alex and walked over to him.

“Oh good Hunters you’re here, Father Gascoigne, your girls will safe here with me, where are you hunting tonight?” the Dweller asked him.

“The Forbidden Woods, Troy and Kiel should already be there, I shall see you at dawn good Dweller and Cleric Slayer, good luck,” Gascoigne said and left Cathedral Ward. The Dweller turned to Alex who was pleased to see him.

“Ah Alex sir, I see you possess the key to Upper Cathedral Ward, you slew the imposter Iosefka who stole it from me,” he said to Alex.

“Indeed Dweller, I wish you luck in protecting everyone, it is going to be a long night I fear,” Alex replied.

“Ah yes, I will lock the doors for safety, to keep them safe, good luck, you’ll want to find the Grand Cathedral,” the Dweller said and went to attend to the girls. Alex took out the key to Upper Cathedral Ward and walked outside, there was a series of steps leading upwards in a spiral to a room with a large door. They walked up the steps, noticing the large creatures on the buildings, and the Hunters down in the streets of Cathedral Ward, some hunted like it was a dance, others like war, and every Hunter was different. They reached the door. He placed they key in the lock and turned it, the lock clicked and he opened the door.

Upper Cathedral Ward had a view of Old Yharnam, and Yharnam. As Alex walked up the steps, he found another lantern, Evie observed the strange statues that were built throughout the ward.

“What is this place?” Jacob asked as he saw a large creature clinging to the buildings of Cathedral Ward.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never seen this part of Cathedral Ward, I guess we should keep going,” Alex said. They were then stopped a by a tall spindly creature, it looked down at Alex and screeched loudly.

“DIE!” It screamed swiping at them with large sharp claws. Alex jumped back and swung the axe, it missed the creature which then began to climb up the walls.

“What is that thing?” Henry asked avoiding its swipe.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen it before,” Alex cried. Suddenly the creature began to grow extra arms and transformed into a strange spider-like creature. Evie wanted to scream, but she could sense that would attract more creatures, she grabbed the Threaded Cane and transformed it into the whip and hit the creature, it shrieked and swiped at her.

“Now Aleck,” she cried. Alex leapt onto the back of the creature, which began to swing and sway furiously, he grabbed a poison knife from his satchel and began stabbing the creature with it. It shrieked and shook wildly, trying to shake him off. Alex then stabbed it in its head, it shrieked and fell down to the ground dead.

“There could be more, let’s be careful,” Alex warned them. They continued on towards the Grand Cathedral across the bridge, there was a lantern waiting for them, a door. Alex pushed open the doors and they walked into the Grand Cathedral, it had tall pillars strange statues everywhere and they came to a room filled with books and vials of blood.

“Vials of blood, this must have been where the Blood Ministrations took place, creating blood vials from the Blood of Eden, the only question is what happened to them this place looks abandoned,” Alex said examining the room.

“They were consumed by the plague,” said a voice. Out of the shadows came a spider with a man’s head.

“What is that, that is creepy,” Jacob said creeped out by the spider.

“Charmed, my name is Patches, I guard this place and make sure no intruder try to take the Blood of Eden, but I have a feeling you are the Hunter rumoured to come and stop the ritual,” Patches said.

“You are correct,” Alex said.

“Well then, the time is nearing, the Wet Nurse is looking after the surrogate whilst Master Ludwig prepares for the ritual, I do not wish to see this world destroyed for I have seen the past failures of Mergo’s birth, so I will spare you, that door leads to Mensis, and Mergo’s loft is on the top floor, the blood is being protected there, go now before they hear you,” Patches said pointing to the door with one of his legs. Alex found it strange that this Patches wanted to help them, but there was no time, Lucy and Crawford were already in Cathedral Ward preparing for the ritual and time was running out.


	27. The Loft

In the Nightmare of Mensis, Ludwig prepared the bloodshot eyeballs for the ritual whilst Lucy was attended to by the Wet Nurse. Crawford was standing looking up at the strange creature which said nothing. Suddenly a Healing Church Hunter entered the room.

“Ludwig sir, the Hunter’s he’s arrived and he’s got the Shroud,” the Hunter said. Ludwig turned angrily and the Wet Nurse moved to the cradle to protect it.

“He mustn’t get here, Crawford, you want that blasted Shroud go get it, the ritual is still unprepared and I must get the blood,” Ludwig said.

“With pleasure Ludwig,” Crawford said unsheathing a sword. “Time to collect what’s rightfully mine.”

He left the room and proceeded down the stairs to the main floor, he spotted Alex and smiled.

“Well, well, the Hunter arrives, and he holds my shroud,” Crawford declared loudly.

“The failing King of London, I’m surprised you didn’t offer yourself up for the ritual, the power you could have gained, but we don’t have time for you, I have a Hunt to finish,” Alex said. Crawford swung the sword smashing a nearby vase.

“I’m afraid I can’t let that happen. It’s do or die Hunter,” Crawford said. Alex transformed the Hunter Axe back into a Halberd and smiled.

“Evie, Henry, Jacob, get to the loft,” Alex said. Evie, Jacob and Henry ran for the stairs leading up to the loft leaving Alex to face Crawford. Alex swung the axe, but Crawford dodged it and parried with the sword. Alex rolled forwards and knocked Crawford off his feet. He then hit Crawford with the axe, slicing deep into his abdomen, Crawford stagger and fell.

“No,” Crawford said he was struggling against the pain, but there was no way to stop the blood, it would be a matter of moments. Alex stood over Crawford Starrick and raised the axe.

“For the Hunt,” Alex said and cut Crawford’s head clean off, rolling across the floor and coming to rest at the foot of the stairs. Alex looked up at the cracked mirror and saw something had changed in his appearance, his eyes now had bright flecks of red in them and his teeth looked sharper. He pulled off one of his gloves, his hands now had a claw-like feature to them.

“What is happening?” he whispered to himself. What was the Hunt doing to him? He ran up the stairs to the loft where Evie, Jacob, and Henry were standing outside a large door.

“Something’s inside preventing us from getting in,” Evie said as she kicked the door again. Alex walked up the door, there was something protecting the door, it was like the mist that he used to return to London. He touched the door handle and turned it, there was a click and he opened the door. He walked through the mist with Evie, Jacob and Henry and found themselves in a strange room filled with vials, and hourglasses, all filled with blood and there in the center, on a large stone podium stood a large hourglass with blood flowing through the center, the top never seemed to empty and the bottom never seemed to get full. On the wooden frames that held it together were symbols of Eden.

“The Blood of Eden,” Alex whispered. He could see the corruption within the blood, it was normally a silvery glow, but now it was black like thick sludge. “We found it.” He walked towards the hourglass, it was beautiful but dying. Remembering he had the Shroud he took out of his pocket, it would purify the blood, but he didn’t know how.

“The corruption’s drastically changed it, the blood should be silver, not black,” Henry observed.

“The cause of Mergo’s death, but the success of the ritual, that should be enough to cancel out the corruption,” said a man walking into the room.

“Oh good, more nut jobs,” Jacob said sarcastically.

“You want to purify it yes, to cleanse the blood of the death that taints it, but Ludwig cannot have that, no, the crazy man is convinced that Mergo must be reborn, so I told him I’d protect the blood, old Micolash will protect the blood,” Micolash said.

“You’re protecting it for the Church,” Alex said, he readied the axe in case Micolash tried to attack, but he didn’t, he just stood looking at the hourglass.

“Well the Blood is sacred, pure, dangerous, but look at it now, it reeks of death, they foolishly tainted it with something the blood was never supposed to touch, I heard the Moon calling out to you Hunter, you even smell like the Moon, you’ve got her power, a gift in order to slay the Nightmare that is soon to be born,” Micolash said. He looked around and the faint sound of a baby crying was heard.

“Do you hear that, the sound of the baby crying, the Church seeks a new born, one that should be here by dawn should the ritual go as planned, but when it drinks the blood, it will grow into a grotesque beast with the taint, so here is your decision Hunter, you can kill me to purify the blood, I will not fight, or…you can wait until Mergo is in this world, and slay its Wet Nurse to stifle its cries and leave it stillborn, but it would require letting the ritual succeed, so what will you choose?” Micolash said. He was testing Alex, to see what choice he would make. Alex walked towards Micolash, he could see the taint within his eyes and it was like it was the Moon Presence talking and not Micolash. Alex then stabbed Micolash with the axe.

“Well done Hunter,” Micolash said before he died. Alex looked down at the body which dissolved into ash, he saw a note in the ash and picked it up.

“Let the Shroud engulf the blood,” Alex read.

“What does it mean?” Evie asked as she looked at the hourglass and examined the markings.

“I don’t know, how does the Shroud heal?” Alex asked as he opened up the Shroud. Henry looked at the Shroud and the Hourglass.

“Let me try,” Henry said. Alex passed him the shroud and he unfolded it and covered the hourglass. Nothing happened but then a voice said to the room.

“The Blood of a Hunter must cure the corruption of the Beast,” it said. Everyone heard it, but Alex knew what it was. He took a dagger out from his satchel and took off his glove, he sliced the palm of his hand and let the blood drip onto the Shroud. It soaked into the Shroud which began to glow, there was a blinding light as the same voice said.

“Well done Hunter.” When the light vanished the Shroud was lying folded on top of the hourglass and the blood was a bright silver again.

“You did it, the Shroud it worked,” Evie said taking the Shroud off the hourglass and pocketing it.

“We can return it to the Assassin’s archives, as for this, look at it, obviously it was hidden here for a reason,” Henry said examining the silver blood.

“It is certainly beautiful, but now that the blood is cured, Lucy is still alive and about to conceive a child that will have the power to destroy Yharnam, we should go and stop Ludwig,” Evie said.

“Or I shall stop you, I should thank you for cleansing the blood it will make the ritual much easier,” Ludwig said standing in the doorway.

“Evie, Henry protect the blood,” Alex said wielding the axe.

“Oh Alexander, you stupid boy, did you really think you could stop me, oh the Moon can guide you all it wants, it doesn’t change the fact that she is weak and you are weaker, now you are interfering with forces beyond your power, you know nothing for the Old Gods or the power that is held in that hourglass, if you only knew what you could with that power, now give me the blood, so we can beckon Oedon,” Ludwig said holding in one hand a large sharp blade, and in the other a rifle.

“I’d rather stop dreaming than give you the blood,” Alex said and swung the axe. Ludwig parried and stopped Alex from striking him and laughed loudly.

“Is that the best you can do,” Ludwig said mockingly. Alex could feel his blood boiling inside his veins, he felt a strange energy surging through him as he fought the Templar.

“Children attack!” Ludwig commanded as strange small creatures began to swarm the room. Evie, Henry and Jacob began to attack the creatures as Ludwig and Alex fought.

“You’re weak Hunter, and when you die, you’ll awaken in a nightmare, whilst I rule over your pathetic town of London, I’ll turn it into a second Yharnam, where blood is the source of all obsession,” Ludwig shouted as they fought.

“No, you’ll destroy everything for power, that’s not why she calls to me, she calls to me so I can Hunt, and right now I’m going to Hunt you,” Alex said. Then as if something snapped within him, he dropped the axe and stuck his hand into Ludwig, he twisted his insides and pulled out his still beating heart. Ludwig, standing there with a hole in his chest, used his last breath to laugh manically before he dropped to the floor dead. The swarm disappeared and he turned to see Evie, Jacob and Henry staring at him, half in shock and half fear.

“You didn’t even use the weapon, you just…you just tore his heart out,” Henry said his eyes fixated on the heart that was still beating. Evie noticed Alex’s eyes had changed, they were now a blood red, and his appearance was slowly changing, his teeth were razor sharp, his hands claws.

“What’s happening to me?” Alex asked them, scared to hear the answer.


	28. The Nightmare

Alex looked down at his hands, he felt strange like he wanted to attack something, the desire to hunt some more. Suddenly the sound of a baby’s cry began to get louder.

“Lucy!” Evie cried remembering she was still there. Alex picked up the axe and followed them downstairs into the Mensis.

“The Wet Nurse is still there, it’ll try to protect Lucy, we need to separate them, Evie I need you to get Lucy away from the Nurse, Jacob and Henry I’ll need you two to protect the Blood of Eden, nothing gets near it, you hear me,” Alex said to them.

“Yes sir,” Jacob said as he and Henry went back to the loft. Evie looked at Alex, the Hunt was getting to him, but the night was almost over.

“This is it,” Evie said to him.

“It is, look Evie, I don’t know how strong that thing is, so if something happens, Evie please know that I love you,” Alex said to her.

“I love you too Alex,” Evie said before she passionately kissed him. “When this is over, we can leave London together,” she said.

“Where would we go?” Alex asked her.

“Paris, Canada, America, anywhere we want as long as I am with you,” Evie told him.

“Perhaps Italy, return the Shroud to its resting place in the Archives,” Alex suggested. Evie smiled at the idea, it would be nice to visit Italy. Alex heard the Moon Presence speak to him again.

“The Night is almost over, slay the Nightmare and restore order to what once knew fear from power,” it spoke softly. Alex knew what the voice meant and opened the door. As he entered he spotted in the corner the Wet Nurse towering over a cradle and Lucy standing by it.

“I should have seen your arrival coming, it’s always you two interfering with my plans, do you know what the birth of Mergo will mean for Yharnam, what it will mean for London,” Lucy said revealing a Threaded Cane like Evie’s.

“You are blinded by the power this ritual could give you, you have no idea if it will kill you, you’re obsessed with power, with bringing the Healing Church to a place that would be destroyed under its rule,” Alex said looking at the Wet Nurse which hissed at him.

“And you think hiding the Blood of Eden away is better than having a Great One for a child, you Hunters and your priorities,” Lucy said with a laugh as she held the chalice in her hands. Alex recognised it as the one Ludwig stole from after they defeated the Blood-Starved Beast. He then began to laugh loudly and slightly manically, it scared Evie as his voice began change, to drop, he didn’t sound like Alex, he sounded like a demon almost.

“You stupid bitch, you think you can beckon Oedon and rule London as the leader of an organisation that worships blood, did you wonder why Ludwig didn’t return with the blood, it’s because he’s dead, I killed him, I ripped his beating heart from his chest, I hunted a hunter and without the blood, you cannot beckon Oedon and conceive this child, and of course there is the matter of your Wet Nurse,” Alex said laughing, his grin showing his sharp teeth and his eyes bright red.

“You what!” Lucy cried.

“Ludwig is dead, it’s over Lucy, Crawford is dead, the Shroud is ours and the Blood of Eden is pure, all you have is a chalice filled with mashed up eyeballs,” Evie said. Lucy then remembered the chalice and drank the mixture of eyeballs and sacrificial blood. Her eyes began to glow white and she dropped the chalice which hit the ground with a metal clang.

“And now I have the insight required to beckon Oedon to me, Wet Nurse, perform the spell,” Lucy ordered. The Wet Nurse rose into the air and began to chant in a dead language before Alex threw a Molotov cocktail and sent it crashing to the ground slightly wounded. It then threw up a black veil around itself and Alex, locking Lucy and Evie out of the room.

“No!” Lucy cried before the veil pushed her back. Inside Alex and the Wet Nurse faced off, it was just the two of them left to fight.

“I cannot let you do this,” Alex said. The Wet Nurse said nothing but instead stared at Alex, its faceless appearance haunted him, he could not read it at all, the black void was emotionless.

“So we fight…to the death,” it said in a raspy voice. Alex ran at the Wet Nurse with the axe and jumped into the air, he hit the Nurse’s arm but it tossed him aside quickly. Alex rolled across the floor and grabbed the axe again and his pistol. The Nurse lunged at him and he shot it with a quicksilver bullet. It staggered and Alex stuck his clawed hand through the Nurse and pulled it out, weakening it considerably. Suddenly the Nurse transformed and became larger and grew two extra arms.

“Shit!” Alex said dodging its arm as the Nurse tried to grab him. He threw a poisoned knife and it hit the Nurse in the chest, the slow poison began to seep into the blood of the Nurse as it screeched and swiped again. Alex transformed the axe and swung the axe, he began to furiously hit at the Nurse feeling himself grow stronger and stronger with every strike. Suddenly the Nurse threw him back and he hit the floor feeling the strength fade quickly, his vision blurred as the Wet Nurse loomed over him and stretched out a long clawed hand.

“No, I won’t die,” he said reaching for a blood vial and crushing it. The blood invigorated him and he reached for the axe and leapt to his feet. “I WON’T DIE!” he yelled swinging the axe hard against the Wet Nurse. He struck it in the chest and it let out a high pitched scream, the crying of the baby turned into violent wails as he felt the ground shake underneath him. Suddenly the Wet Nurse burst into black ash the veil fell away. Alex stood in the middle of the room, covered in blood and ash from the Wet Nurse, in a cracked mirror on the side of the room he saw his appearance was back to normal, no glowing red eyes, no sharp teeth, and no clawed hands. He turned to Evie and Lucy, Lucy was on the floor weeping and Evie was staring at him, she had watched the fight, she had seen him fall and get up again.

Outside in Yharnam and the valley, the Hunter’s all looked to the sky and saw the Moon transforming, the blood tinge was fading away and the Hunters watched the Moon Presence appeared in the sky and descended upon Cathedral Ward. From the Forbidden Woods Gascoigne and his fellow Hunters looked up into the sky, he smiled and tipped his hat to the Moon Presence. In the Yharnam Aqueducts, Eileen stood surrounded by beast corpses and looked up at the Moon Presence.

“You did it Hunter, you succeeded where others failed,” she said before a rat tried to attack her, she swung the sword and killed it instantly. Something changed over Yharnam, even Gilbert noticed as he watched from the safety of his home. In Cathedral Ward, the Dweller and the survivors stood on the balcony and watched the Moon Presence descend on them, the Dweller smiled, though he couldn’t see the Moon Presence well due to his sight, he knew that Alex had succeeded.

“Well done Hunter,” he whispered as Violet and Clarice pointed up at the Moon Presence in wonder.

Inside, Alex saw the Moon Presence appear in the room in a glow of light, Jacob and Henry entered after hearing the fight and saw the Presence. They didn’t move, stunned by her strange appearance, but Alex bowed to the Moon Presence. She gracefully walked towards him.

“Alexander, I gave you part of my power when you became a Hunter because I believed you were destined for greatness, and you succeeded, you slew the Wet Nurse that was obsessed in using the power of the blood, and now you are done here, meet me in Hunter’s Dream, all of you, there is much to discuss,” she said disappeared in another glowing light.

“I did it, I stopped the Nightmare,” Alex said unable to believe that he met one of the Great Ones. They went down to the ground floor of Cathedral Ward along with Lucy who had gone very quiet and they were greeted by the Dweller who didn’t hesitate to express his happiness.

“Oh well done Hunter, well done, oh I knew you could do it,” the Dweller said shaking Alex’s hand with appreciation.

“Well done Mister Hunter sir,” Clarice said hugging Alex with glee. Alex laughed as Violet also hugged him as well and he saw Gascoigne appear at the door.

“Cleric Slayer, the lanterns are lit again, you successfully stopped the ritual and slew the Great One that wanted to bring the Nightmare to all of Yharnam, you are a Hunter worth honouring,” Gascoigne said walking up to Alex and shaking his hand.

“Thank you Father Gascoigne, but honestly, not all of it was me, you helped me learn how to purify the Blood of Eden, it was young Clarice here who gave me the music box to find you and Alfred who told me that the blood was corrupted and created the plague, everyone I met helped me in some way,” Alex said humbly.

“You are an honourable young man, your name will go down in history as the one who slew the Nightmare,” Gascoigne said.

“Daddy can we go home now,” Clarice asked.

“Of course sweetie, you go find Arianna and we’ll all go home,” Gascoigne said to his daughters as they ran to him. As Gascoigne left with Arianna and his daughters, all that was left was to say goodbye to Eileen and the Dweller.

“Will you come back to visit?” the Dweller asked. Alex wasn’t sure, he hadn’t considered coming back but as he looked at the face of the Dweller, he realised that while life back home was filled with many opportunities for him, he realised that Yharnam also felt like his home.

“Yes Dweller, I will return to visit sometimes, after everything I have been through in this land, it feels like home,” Alex replied.

“Aye it does lad,” said Eileen from the other doorway.

“Eileen, how was the Hunt?” Alex asked surprised to see her.

“It was well young Hunter, but you accomplished something tonight that no Hunter has ever done, I am proud of you. When I saw the Moon Presence I knew that you had done well, and now I wish you good luck on your next endeavour, as for me, well I might leave Yharnam and try my luck hunting elsewhere,” Eileen said to him.

“I hope you have wonderful journeys and glorious hunts Eileen,” Evie said to Eileen.

“Thank you young assassin, I do hope you find a safe place for the Blood of Eden,” she said and left to go into Cathedral Ward. Alex approached the lantern as he, Jacob, Evie, Henry and Lucy departed for the Hunter’s Dream.


	29. The Moon Presence

They arrived in the Hunter’s Dream, the messengers were everywhere congratulating Alex on his victory, Gehrman and the Doll stood at the bottom of the steps with the Moon Presence waiting for them.

“Alexander, look at how strong you’ve become, you’ve became a full-blooded Hunter,” Gehrman said with a crooked smile at him.

“Thank you Gehrman sir, I could not have become one without you,” he replied bowing to Gehrman.

“You have done us a great service Hunter, you have stopped the Nightmare and in turn saved the Dream,” the Doll said.

“The Doll speaks the truth, I knew the Wet Nurse when we were members of the First Civilisation, and Oedon…oh Oedon my love, he sacrificed himself to protect the Blood of Eden but the Wet Nurse she wanted the power, she knew its price, but when Mergo was first born, that was when she came to the Church, she stayed there protecting the unborn Mergo, desperate to raise a new Great One as her own, she would have killed Lucy here when the child was born,” the Moon Presence explained to them.

“I could have had it all,” Lucy muttered, it was the first thing she had said since the fight between Alex and the Wet Nurse. The Moon Presence beckoned Lucy to her, she did so curious.

“Lucy Thorne, your intentions were blinded by the power of the blood, but I can see deep in your heart I know what you really wanted, you wanted meaning, a meaning the Templars did not have, I can give you that meaning, you can be forgiven for what you tried to do,” she said to Lucy.

“You would forgive me…for trying to complete the ritual?” Lucy asked confused.

“Yes, my job is to protect the innocent and deep inside, you are innocent like the Doll here, I can help you, would you like my help?” the Moon Presence offered. Lucy wiped her eyes and nodded.

“I would like that very much,” she said agreeing to the deal. The Moon Presence tapped Lucy’s forehead and she began to glow silver, in a cold silver glow of light, Lucy has transformed, her skin was now porcelain and she wore different clothing.

“You shall join the Doll, offering help to the Hunters who dream, you will find your meaning in the Dream,” the Moon Presence said.

“Thank you,” the Lucy Doll said and bowed to the Moon Presence. Lucy went to stand beside Gehrman and the Moon Presence turned to Alex.

“Alexander, you slayed the Wet Nurse who sought the Nightmare, you saved the Healing Church from itself and purified the Blood of Eden, you have done something extraordinary tonight and I am thankful that I picked you. While you cannot cure the Beast Plague, you have saved people from being exposed to deeper corruption should the ritual have succeeded, you have shown yourself to be a worthy Hunter and now I can offer you a choice. Ascend and become a new Great One to watch and protect the Hunters, or join me here in the Dream when Gehrman’s Dream has ended, you can go live your life back in your home and I will call to you when it is time for you to become the one who protects the Hunter’s Dream,” The Moon Presence said. Alex now had a decision, become a God or protect the Hunter’s Dream when Gehrman’s stops dreaming.

“I choose the second option, but I have one condition,” Alex said.

“Name it and it shall be done,” The Moon Presence replied. Alex turned to Evie and smiled at her.

“I want Evie to join me, she saved my life, brought me back from death and has been there since I first became a Hunter, I would want nothing more than for her to protect the Dream with me,” Alex said.

“What do you think Evie?” the Moon Presence asked her.

“I would accept, to stay by Alex’s side in the Dream,” Evie said to the Moon Presence.

“Then it shall be done, you shall be sent home to London and I shall call for Hunter’s to seal the doorway between our worlds for good, I thank you Alexander, I shall call upon you one day,” the Moon Presence said.

The Moon Presence sent them back to London, it was dawn over the city. The Shroud of Eden was in their possession and the Blood of Eden was sealed in the Hunter’s Dream for protection from anyone who would try to corrupt it. They returned to the train where Charlie was waiting, he saw Jacob and ran to hug him.

“I’ve missed you,” Jacob told him. The days passed and Henry went to Italy with the Shroud to take it to the Archives where it would be stored away with the other Pieces of Eden. Jacob and the Rooks took over London and the Blighters were wiped out and Evie and Alex stayed in London.

One afternoon in Westminster Evie and Alex were up on Big Ben repairing the telegraph boxes after a heavy storm, she looked out over the city, it was beautiful but also reminded her of Yharnam and she did miss Yharnam.

“I would love to go back one day, to Yharnam Aleck, not to live but to visit, see how everyone is doing, especially Gilbert, he didn’t look so good when we last saw him,” Evie told Alex as he fiddled with some wires. Alex had gone back to his engineering and inventions creating some strange weapons and items inspired by his time in Yharnam.

“It would be good to see Gascoigne and the girls again, he could try out that Bolt Gun prototype I’m working on,” Alex said.

“You mean the gun that keeps electrocuting you,” Evie said with a grin.

“Yes that very one, but I’m enjoying life right now, everything feels peaceful, calm even, and I’m making major breakthroughs on my auditory transmission device, but sometimes I still dream of the hunts,” Alex told her standing up. Evie smiled and kissed him.

“Well we can always meet up with Henry in Italy, he’s apparently on some big adventure with the guild and I reckon they could benefit with us tagging along for the ride,” Evie suggested.

“I like the sound of that, but what about Jacob, he’d want to come I’m sure of it,” Alex replied.

“He’s got Charlie, he’ll be fine,” Evie said. They left Westminster and returned to the train where Jacob was playing cards with Charlie and three other Rooks.

“And I win,” Charlie said punching the air.

“You’re good,” one of the Rooks said enviously. Alex and Evie entered their carriage and Evie immediately noticed Charlie was winning.

“He’s got a strong hand, I’d be careful,” Evie warned them.

“And what have you two been up to then today?” Jacob asked curious to see what trouble his sister was getting into with Alex.

“We’re planning on going to Italy, Henry’s out there with the guild we’re going to join them, apparently they’re dealing with Vampires or something, and they could probably use the skills of a Hunter,” Evie said with a smug look at her brother.

“Of course it’s Vampires and not the Nightmare of Eden,” Jacob said sarcastically to his sister.

“The Nightmare of Eden, you’ve been reading too many gothic novels,” Evie said laughing at her brother. Evie and Alex left for a boat to Europe that evening, the next adventure was waiting for them and they believed there would be many more to come.


	30. Epilogue

In the Hunter’s Dream, a young Hunter by the name of Elizabeth woke up. She looked around at the strange graveyard and noticed the workshop in the centre, this place was strange and new, she last remembered being in a Clinic where a man made her sign a contract. Her head was reeling but she took in the environment around her, the large and colourful flowers and green plant life, the large twisting trees, the tiny corpse-like creatures that waved to her with their arms stretched out. The place intrigued her but it also frightened her, as she walked up the steps into the workshop, she noticed an old man standing in the open doorway. He wore old Hunter armour and carried a large Hunter’s Axe in his hands.

“Welcome to the Hunter’s Dream, my name is Alexander,” the man said in a thick Scottish accent.

“I’m Elizabeth, what is this place?” she asked him as she approached him and noticed the two dolls standing on either side of him.

“This is the Hunter’s Dream, where Hunters can rest before they return to hunting, the world is a dangerous place and you cannot fight it without a strong weapon,” Alexander said as the tiny corpses appeared holding a Threaded Cane and a Hunter’s Pistol. Elizabeth picked up the weapons and then a woman appeared beside Alexander.

“A new Hunter is it darling?” the woman asked.

“Yes dear, she comes to us from Iosefka’s Clinic, tell me dear child how old are you?” Alexander asked.

“I’m nineteen sir,” Elizabeth replied cautiously.

“Nineteen, so young, and so full of potential to become a great Hunter, let’s get her some armour and show her how blood works in this land, also if you should happen to go to Central Yharnam, I want you to look up a man named Gerard, I used to know his great grandfather Gilbert,” Alexander said showing Elizabeth inside the workshop. In the sky the reflection of the Moon Presence appeared in the moon, she looked down at the new Hunter and the old one that began to teach her the ways of Hunting. The Dream was safe, the Blood protected and the world at peace from the Nightmare.


End file.
